A Gamer's Journey
by Skalathrax
Summary: The Story of Maxim Popov, a professional gamer, who finds himself caught up in the organization known as X-COM. How will he handle the pressure. Will he survive. Will the Earth be Saved, or will the Aliens win. A write up of my X-COM play through, as seen by a sniper in the game. Rated M for swearing, violence, gory descriptions, and to be safe.
1. Chapter 1: Recruitment

**This is a little story I'm making, based off of a play through of X-COM I'm doing. I was inspired by, AllForFire who's writing something similar, in 'An Odd Bunch Of Soldiers'. Rated M for swearing and violence.**

 **This is my first story, so don't be too mean, but I will appreciate any constructive criticism you can offer.**

* * *

 **"Aw yeah** , MVP" Maxim shouted at his T.V after finishes top of the leaderboard in yet another game of Call Of Duty. They all accused him of hacking, but he never needed hacks, he just relied on his natural skill. All the other players left the game room.

"Aw man, not again" he turned off his Playstation, and went into his kitchen, a walk of about 4 steps in his tiny apartment "No food. Damnit" he grabbed his keys, and jacket, and left the apartment. Only to turn around and walk back in, and grab his wallet, before walking back out again.

Maxim was on his way back from the supermarket, a bag of food on each arm, and happened to glance at a news report from a store window, he saw reports of an alien incursion, these were playing a lot lately, London today, damn, they were getting close, apparently some group called X-COM was started to stop them, he hoped they worked, he didn't fancy meeting these aliens. Then he noticed something else, and began watching intently, they were holding 'tryouts' for X-COM, wait what, seriously, he thought you had to be specifically chosen for it, now you could apply, damn. Wait, they want a sniper... this might be something he could do.

Maxim walked into the community center "Name" a man sitting a desk asked him

"Maxim Popov"

"Just wait over there, you will be called in when the person before you is finished"

"Oh, alright"

* * *

 **A few** minutes later.

"Maxim Popov" was called over a speaker in the corner

Wow, he was really doing this, a gamer was going to apply for a comabt group, he'd probably flunk it, but... why was he here, he wasn't going to be the person chosen for this, and, if he was, was he really going to be a good soldier, he had the patience for it, he knew, he had waited long times in games to get off the perfect shot, but, a real combat scenario, he should probably just leave now, but, he couldn't make himself leave, and found himself walking through the door.

"Hello sir" A man with short blonde hair said "Just step over there"

"Uh, hi, what exactly am i going to be doing here?" Maxim asked

"You are going to be run through a simulation combat scenario"

"Woah, really, i didn't know we had simulation tech"

"Cutting edge tech i know, it doesn't officially exist"

"Awesome"

The man got a helmet, gloves, and boots from the counter beside him, and put them on Maxim "Now, this is going to be very realistic, but nothing will kill you, this is to test out how you can handle the stress of a combat situation. You will feel like you are running around, but don't worry, you will still be standing right there"

"What, how does that work"

"The Gloves and boots intercept nerve transmissions before they make the body parts move, so you move in the simulation, but not in real life"

"So cool"

"However, they will release an electircal shock if you are injured by anything, so being shot will hurt"

"Oh, thats great"

"Good luck" the man called, a pressed a button on the coutner

Immediatly Maxim saw an entirely different landscape around him, it was lightly forested, he was on a hill, and a sniper rifle was laying agaisnt a rock beside him, there was also a pistol and a grenade. Maxim picked up the pistol, and put it into a holster on his hip, hooked the grenade onto a clip on his waist, and picked up the sniper rifle. He heard a shot, and turned to see a man run up the hill, he was heavily wounded, and was running like the devil was chasing him. Maxim's gaming instincts kicked in, and he dropped to one knee, brought the rifle to his shoulder, and called out to the man "Who are you" the only responce came in a scream as the man fell forward, revealing a short, grey-skinned humanoid with a strange device in its wrist, it's head was massive, and it had huge eyes. Immediatly, Maxim put his eye to the scope, and fired, the bullet slamming right between the creatures huge eyes. It dropped to the ground, a neat hole pumped through its head. He heard a strange skreech from behind the creature, and knew re-enforcments were coming, he looked around for cover, and saw an outcrop of rocks behind him. He ran over, and jumped over them, taking cover on the other side. He popped his head up, rifle already aimed down the slope, and saw more of the aliens coming, spread out, too far apart for a grenade, and scater for cover, he quickyl gaged the distance, adjusted him aim, and shot, drilling another one in its giant head. The rest, 3 more, hid behind trees. Maxim ducked back down, a checked the rifle, it held 4 shots, and he didn't have any extra clips. He popped back up, and saw the aliens behind the trees, he couldn't get a clear shot, so he kept his eyes out, making sure he could see all of them, he saw a flash of grey, and quickly swivled, bringing up the rifle, and firing, the grey creature fell back, a hole in it's chest where a heart would be for a person (Hopefully he hit somthing important). The others screeched again, and they both began sprinting out of the cover, firing green beams from the devices on their wrist. Maxim ducked down behind the rock, putting the rifle on the ground, and getting out the pistol, it was a revolver, it had to be re-cocked after each shot, and he had 6 of them. He jumped up, firing a round into one of the aliens, it struck it in the chest, and it dropped, but the other wasn't idle, he felt a burning in his side, and quickly turned his arm, pulling back the trigger on his pistol as he did so, and pumped another bullet into the other alien. He then dropped back down behind the rock, and looked at his side, it was red and bubbling, and it stung like a bitch, he lightly touched the area, and his side screamed in pain, he gritted his teeth to prevent himself from crying out. He heard a lout growl, and glanced over the rock, he saw a strange creature, it looked like a reptilian lion, running at him, he fired a shot, but his side threw his aim, and he missed, realizing his aim would not be good enough for this with his wound, he dropped the pistol, took out the grenade, pulled the pin, and threw it a few feet in front of the rock, then dropped to the ground behind his rock. He heard the boom, followed by a howl of pain, he picked up the pistol, and looked over his rock. The creature was on it's side, bleeding green from multiple cuts all over it. He raised his pistol in a shakey grip, and, holding it in 2 hands, fired a shot into it's head, killing it. He dropped back down, leaning agaisnt the rock in a sitting position, keeping his arm away from his side. He took a deep breath, and checked his pockets, he found what looked like a vial in a breast pocket, and looked around the side, he found a red cross on the top, he pulled the cork-like thing out of the top, and poured a small drop onto a finger, no burning, so he then took that small bit on his finger, and put his finger to the wound, where he put it he immediatly felt it cool, so he took the rest of the vial, and poured it onto the wound, it cooled straight away, and he sighed in pleasure, then looked at his side. It was fully healed, no sign of the wound. He stood back up, and came face-to-face with another of the grey-skined creatures, without him realizing what was happening, a fist collided with the neck of the creature, and it fell back, he grabed the pistol off the ground, and fired a shot into its face.

"Simulation End" a robotic voice said in his ear. The scene before him dissapeared, and he was back in the room

"Wow, that was intense" He saw the man by the counter looking at him, with a shocked look on his face "What" he said, taking the helmet off

"That... It was made to be virtually unbeatable"

"Seriously?!"

"Take those off then follow me"

* * *

 **10 minutes** later.

Maxim was sitting in a car, the man, who had revealed himself to be called Keith. "So, whats happening again"

"I'm taking you to X-COM HQ. You need to talk to the Commander"

"Seriously... Where is this HQ, i just bought food this morning"

"You'll be back at your house in a few hours"

"I think i forgot to put the milk away"

Keith smiled "We can re-pay you for the milk"

* * *

 **An hour** later.

"Come in" a voice called from behind the door. Keith opened the door and walked in, followed closely behind by Maxim. The room was fairly small, a screen showing a map of the world on one side of the room, a desk covered in papers on the other, and a man standing beside the screen. 'The Commander', was not what you imagine from everything he'd heard of him, the man chosen to lead X-COM, earth's first and last line of defence against the alien threat, chosen specifically for his skills, the best tactician in the world today, he was about average height, with buzz-cut brown hair, and slightly baby-faced, altogether a rather unasuming man, if he'd met him on the street, he wouldn't have glanced at him twice. But, meeting him here, in X-COM HQ, in front of a tactical map of the world... Maxim still didn't think he seemed all that impressive "Yes, kind of a let down isn't it"

"Pardon" Maxim replied, broken out of his thoughts by the commanders words

"You hear all the legends about the mysterious 'Commander', i'm sure most people imagine a tall, muscled, scarred, military general looking man, then you see me. I appreciate the irony of it" The Commander laughed

"Uh, yeah, that's actually exactly what i was thinking. How'd you know"

"It's what everyone thinks when they see me. Anyway, Keith here tells me you were the recruit that aced that simulation. Lets see, 7 shots, and 1 grenade, and 7 kills, a slight burn from an alien. Still room for improvment then"

"Sir, i designed that simualtion to be virtually impossible, the fact that he managed to complete it is amazing"

"Of course, of course. But we need only the best here. Maxim. It says here that you are a.. Profession gamer?"

"Uh, yeah"

"How does that pay?"

"I'm sorry"

"What are you sorry for" The Commander smiled

"Uh"

"I'm just trying to unnerve you, don't worry, i'm only joking"

"A Proffessional game though, how did you do so well in a simulation that trained soldiers would struggle with"

Maxim hesitated "Well, a simulation is just a realistic game... and games are what i am good at"

The Commander smiled "I too use game tactics for my work. Games are great training. But real-life experience is needed as well"

"I guess"

"Well, Maxim, i would like to offer you a place at X-COM"

"Wait... What"

"I would like to offer you a place at X-COM"

"Yeah, i heard, i just mean... Why"

"Well... I quite like you, and i am becoming quite know for my strange decisons. Did you know i have a diagnosed psychopathic criminal on the group?"

"Wait what"

"Don't worry, she's calm"

"Uhhh"

"And i also happen to quite like you, and i think you will do well here... With a bit of training of course"

"I, uh, i don't know what to say"

"Well, theres, Yes, No, and May i have some time to think about it"

"I, uh, i guess i'll go with the 3rd option"

"Wonderful. I like it when they think about it. Keith will give you a lfit back home, and then we'll comtact you in a few days, and we'll ask you again then. I would give you more time, but we need a sniper, and we can't wait forever"

"Oh, uh, thank you"

* * *

 **A few** days later.

A rining woke Maxim up, he glanced at the clock, 3:30 AM "Uhhh" he groaned as he dragged himself out of bed. As soon as his feet touched the floor he shot up, remembering who it would that could be calling him, and sprinted into his 'living room' (a difficult feat when moving less than 10 steps), and grabbing his phone "Were you charged for PPI you didn't want", Maxim growled and was about to slam the phone down before heard laughing from the other end "Sorry, i couldn't help it, just imagining your reaction"

"That wan't funny, i was 2 inches away from hanging up"

"Oh, it was very funny, trust me. Anyway, have you made up your mind about joining X-COM"

"Woah, that was straight forward"

"I'm a straight forward guy. So, have you decided"

Before Maxim could even think, he said "Yes"

"Excelent, pack up everything you want to bring, you'll be picked up outside your apartment complex at 7:30"

"What can i pack"

"You'll be getting a room quite similar to your apartment. So, clothes, games, any personal items you want to make sure don't vanish"


	2. Chapter 2: Meeting the Squad

**In this chapter, we get our first interaction with X-COM's resident Psychopath. I've learned some stuff about Psychopath's from my psychology lessons. So I've tried to represent it as accurately as I can, but any tips you can give will be appreciated. I'm not very good at schedules so there probably won't be any schedule that I'll stick to, but I'll try to get out at least a couple a week.**

* * *

 **Maxim sat** in his room in X-COM HQ. He still couldn't believe he was here. His room was much like his apartment, a bed in one corner, a T.V on the wall (which he had brought), a small toilet through a door on the side wall. The walls were plain metal, much like he imagined a room in a space ship would look like, there was a stack of games in another corner (also brought by him), there was a poster on the wall opposite his bed, one of those cat posters, a cat hanging off a wire, with the caption 'Hang in there', this was not brought by him, it was in there when he walked in, he assumed it was put there by the Commander, he seemed to have that sense of humour. He held up his hand, it was shaking. He needed to calm himself down. "O.K, calm game, calm game" He began looking through his game stack for half a second before remembering "There's no calm games in here". What calmed him down then, talking to people? Hell no. Working out? Yeah right. What could he do. The he remembered, that Keith guy had given him a brief tour, there was a bar wasn't there. Yep, that'd have to do. He looked at the clock next to his bed, 1:45 AM... "I guess sleeping is just something i don't do anymore". Maxim left his room, and began walking.

15 Minutes later, Maxim was completely lost. "I should have got a map" Maxim complained to himself, as he walked past yet another stretch of wall, that looked exactly the same as the one he passed 5 minutes ago, "I swear I've seen that dent before".

"At least I'm not thinking about what I'm doing- Damn it!" Maxim shouted as he brought his mind back to what was making him freak out

"What are you damning?" A voice said from behind him. Maxim spun around, and saw a woman standing there, she had black hair, cut short, and swept down one side, she looked at him with a quizzical expression on her face

"I, uh..."

"Are you lost?"

"No, I'm just... Yes, I'm completely lost"

"Don't worry, I got lost the first time I was here too. Where are you trying to get to?" She didn't have much emotion in her voice, almost speaking in monotone.

"Uh, I was looking for the Bar"

"follow me, I was heading there myself" She began walking down the corridor

"I'm Maxim. What's your name?" Maxim asked as they walked

"I'm Aya"

"That's a nice name"

"Thank you" She replied, still no emotion in her voice

"What do you do here"

"I'm an Assault specialist, I use a shotgun and run at the aliens, it's fun" She smiled slightly, and there was actually some happiness in her voice this time "What do you do?"

"I'm going to be the sniper"

"So, sit about a mile in the back and shoot the aliens?"

"Well, pulling off a shot from a mile is almost impossible, but a good distance, yes"

"Boring" She seemed to be done with the conversation, so they walked on in silence for a while

"Wait a minute. Why are you awake at 2 in the morning"

She raised an eyebrow "Why are you"

"I couldn't sleep. But i asked you first"

She shrugged, "I don't tend to sleep much"

"That's not a very good answer"

She didn't respond, and continued walking

* * *

 **A few** minutes later they arrived at the bar. It was a small place. A counter on one side, no bartender currently behind it, and some tables scattered around the room, also currently empty. Aya hopped over the counter, grabbed 2 pint glasses, and turned to him. "What do you drink?"

"Uh, any soda's back there?"

"Soda?"

"You know, Cola, Lemonade"

She raised an eyebrow, but went over and put a glass under a machine, and pressed a button, it began dispenses a dark liquid, Maxim hoped it was Cola, he didn't think alcohol came out of machines like that. Aya turned and began filling her own drink from a tap. She placed the drinks on the counter, hopped back over, picked up her drink, and sat down on one of the stools. Maxim grabbed his drink, and sat down as well, leaving a few stools in between them, still uncomfortable, and unnerved by her monotone voice. They sat and drank their drinks in silence for a while before Maxim noticed a T.V in the corner, and saw a remote on the counter. He picked up the remote, and turned on the T.V. It turned on to a news reporter sitting in a news studio "We have reports coming in of another attack by the aliens. Reports have been coming in from Tokyo Japan, Ottawa Canada, and Birmingham England"

Birmingham. Maxim paled. That's where his parents lived. Aya looked at him "You look like a Vampire"

"What"

"You're really pale"

"My... My parents live in Birmingham"

"Oh... And?"

"Didn't you hear, the news man just said it has been attacked"

"That's interesting"

"What?"

"That's interesting"

"But... But... But" Maxim stuttered

"Don't be bothered by her" A voice called from the doorway "She doesn't understand emotions too well"

Maxim turned, a man with a short blonde Mohawk was standing in the doorway, he recognised him as the man who gave him the test to join X-COM, Keith.

Aya finished her pint, jumped back over the counter and turned to Keith "I'm guessing it's a scotch?"

Keith shook his head "No drink's, i came down here to collect you two"

"What?" Keith asked

"We're going on an operation. You, Aya, Me, and William"

Aya hoped back over the counter "Come on Vampire" she said as she walked past Keith out the door

"Vampire?" Keith asked

"He's pale" Aya stated just before she turned a corner

"Where are we going?" Maxim asked

"Birmingham"

"Let's go then" Maxim shot up out of his seat and ran off.

"Other way" Keith called

Maxim turned around, and ran the other way, chasing after Aya.

"Hey. New guy" William, a tall, bulky man, with slicked back black hair. He spoke with a very thick American accent. "What's your name?"

"I'm Maxim. Maxim Popov"

"You're our sniper aren't you"

"Yes"

"Great. Well, I'm William. I'm the explosives expert. I you see the aliens grouped up, give me a shout. Aya over there is our assault specialist. She'll be running right for them with a shotgun, it'll be your job to take out any aliens that get behind her. And Keith is our medic, if you get shot, give him a shout. I'm the unofficall leader on the field, so i'll probably be shouting over the coms alot"

"Gotcha"

"You nervous?"

"... Yeah"

"Don't worry about it, when you get in the field, theres so much adrenaline, you don't really feel much"

"I guess" Maxim heard Keith's voice from behind him

"Come on guys, lets get on the skyranger, the alien's aren't going to wait for us"

They all got into the skyranger. Maxim kept figeting, he was unused to the armour, and it was getting uncomfortable

"Stop fidgeting, it's getting annoying" Aya said from her seat across from him

"Just sit still, the armour will settle on it's own" William said from next to him "My armour does it, and it's a lot thicker than yours"

Maxim tried to stit still, but his hands began moving around, a clear nervous twitch

"The wait's killing you isn't it" Keith said from next to Aya "Don't worry, it's always worse in your imagination than when we actually get there. Just stay calm, you need a steady hand for this. I learned some breathing exercises that calm me down. Just take deep breaths and hold them for a couple seconds each, just imagine the worry flowing out through your boots"

Maxim tried it, and actually found himself calming down "Thank's. That helps"

"Oh hey, I just remembered. You don't know the call signs" William called

"What. Call signs?" Maxim asked

"Just nicknames we use in the field" Keith explained "Aya is Psycho... For obvious reasons. William is crash... Also for pretty obvious reasons. I'm scotch. After my favourite drink from the bar."

"He's Vampire" Aya stated

"Wait. What?"

"You're pale"

"We got that"

"Sorry kid. Looks like you've got you call sign" William laughed


	3. Chapter 3: First Day

**The idea to write this actually came quite a bit into my play through, so the missions up until the assault on the alien base will have quite a bit of them 'made up', as I can't remember them properly, I'll try to keep them as close to how I remember them, but the descriptions will probably get better after the base assault. There will probably also be a few jumps, as I can only remember a few missions, so the progress of probably a dozen missions, will be compressed into probably 4 missions.**

* * *

 **The skyranger** set down, and they undid the buckles holding them in the seats, and began moving out. Aya (Psycho) leading the charge, followed by William (Crash), with Keith (Scotch) just behind him, and Maxim (Vampire) bringing up the rear. "A... Burger King?" Maxim asked upon sighting the restaurant in front of them "Seriously"

"It's the aliens that decided to attack the place" William pointed out "Vampire, take up position behind that lamp post, you should have a good line of sight"

"I really don't like that name"

"Tough, it's yours now, get used to it" William said, as he and Aya ran to take cover behind some pillars in front of the restaurant. Keith taking up position nearby. Maxim sighed, and jogged over to the lamp post, he got behind it, and took out his sniper rifle, scanning the store front.

"I can't spot anyone" he said

"Psycho, head inside see if you can spot any" William ordered

"On it" Aya replied, running up to the store, shotgun in hand. Taking position next to the door, and looking in "Nothing"

"They must be hiding behind-" Maxim began

"Sectoids at the back" Aya interupted, whipping up a pistol and firing a shot, which connected with a wall. William ran over to the window accross from the sectoids, leveling his machine gun and spraying a hail of bullets at them, the sectoid ducking down just in time to avoid being turned into swiss cheese. Keith took position on the other side of the door to Aya, opening the door to give himself a clear shot.

"More on the left" Maxim called as 3 sectoids came into view around the side of the store, firing a shot, which the alien narrowly avoided. Maxim noticed they were gathered together, hiding behind a car "They're grouped up"

"Got 'em" William shouted, dropping his machine gun, and pulling a rocket launcher from his back, firing across the store and striking the car, igniting the fuel and detonating the car. The aliens were consumed in a ball of fire which also took out a good portion of the wall of the building.

"Woah!" Aya shouted as she did a forward roll to avoid a shot from a sectoid, as she ran to the other side of the store to get a better shot, just managing to dodge the green beam that flew over her, passing through the space that her head had just been. She came out of her roll against a corner, leaned over the window cill (which no longer had any glass) and pumping a shell into the alien, it's head now a lump of red meat. The last sectoid came running, jumping over the window cill, and turning to fire at Aya, who was returning to cover after firing her shot, but Keither turned, and fired a burst, striking it straight in the chest, killing it instantly.

"Great job out there" Bradford called over the coms "we can only detect 2 more aliens with the censors"

"They're probably hiding with the rubbish" Maxim said

"Alright, Scotch, you go around the left with Vampire. Psycho, wait up for me. We'll corner them" William said as he vaulted the window cill, and ran over to join Aya, who was in the process of re-loading another shell into her shotgun.

"You're doing pretty well" Keith said as they met up behind the husk of the destroyed car "You haven't freaked out yet anyway"

"This is all happening so fast"

"Told you, the fly here takes hours, but we're rarely here for more than an hour, and most of that is recovering civilians. But come on. You stay here, keep an eye out"

"Alright" Maxim stood up, steadying the rifle on a bit of roof that remained of the car, and looking through the scope as Keith ran up, and took position behind another car further up. "Wait. I think i can see someone hiding behind a truck"

"Alien?" Aya asked

"It looks human. But i can't be sure, i can only see a leg and a bit of the torso"

"Keep them in your sights, we don't want to take any chances" William responded "Psycho, come with me, but keep low"

Maxim kept looking through the scope, it looked human, definatly, but something was different, it just seemed... Stretched? Like someone had taken a human, and pulled them from opposite sides. A bit too long and a bit too thin. But he didn't want to jump to conclusions, it might just be a very tall, skinny man.

"Hey! You there!" Maxim heard William shout, the figure in his scopes turned, and he got a look at it's right arm as it turned, it had one of those plasma guns on it's wrist. Before he even registered what he was doing, he had pulled the trigger, striking the device on the wrist, the figure fell to the side from the force of the shot, and the pair of sunglasses it had been wearing fell off. It's head swivled towards him, and he saw it's eyes. They were slitted, like a cat or a snake. It held up it's wrist, and there was a green glow, followed by a flash, and when the light faded, the alien was lying dead, with it's arm gone.

Maxim heard a loud whirr and a boom at the same time, followed by Bradford calling over the coms "All contacts down, nice job. You just need to round up the civilians, and then you can return to base"

* * *

 **Half an** hour later Maxim was sitting at a table inside the runined Burger King. They had sorted out all of the civlians. All it took was to get the weird green goo stuff off of them, and they'd get up, dazed and disorientated, but unharmed. Keith would give them a check-up, make sure they were alright, then they'd be let go, some left to, presumably, go home, but other's stayed around, probably wanting to stay with the soldiers in case of more aliens.

The other's were finishing up with the last few civilians, and Maxim had just finished dragging the bodies of the aliens back into the skyranger, apparently Dr. Vahlen wanted the bodies for research, especially that new one they'd encountered, it had been grisly work, Maxim had almost thrown up several times when a part would fall off as he dragged the body (The worst one had been the Sectoid that'd had it's head pulped by Aya's shotgun, the head has slipped off as he dragged it around the store, and he'd had to carry the head to the skyranger).

He heard voices coming from nearby, and he got up and went to investigate, keeping his pistol loose in it's holster. He could hear a female voice, presumably Aya's, and a male voice he didn't recognise. He went into an alley, and poked his head around the corner corner, and saw Aya and a man with Buzz-cut black hair. "Why are you here? Didn't you know there was aliens nearby?" Aya asked, but not in her usually monotone, she was speaking normally.

"Yeah, i knew there were aliens, but then i saw you guys arrive, so i decided to stick around to see the results" The man had a slight German accent.

"What's this you were doing?" Aya asked, motioning at a section of wall Maxim couldn't quite see, he didn't know why he was sneaking, but he just felt like he'd be interupting.

"Thats my art. I gotta show the aliens what i think about 'em"

Maxim moved to try and get a look at the wall, but ended up kicking a can that was on the ground, which then got launched into a trashcan, nocking it down on it's side, making a tremendous racket. Maxim had no idea how he kicked that hard, he couldn't kick like that when he'd tried football. Realizing he'd be found, Maxim decided to try and play it off like he just arrived "Hey, i heard voices and thought i'd come find out who was talking" he said as he rounded the corner.

"Oh, it's you" Aya replied, holstering the pistol she'd drawn when she'd heard the noise.

Maxim got a look at the wall Aya had pointed at earlier, and saw a drawing spray painted on it, a picture of an alien (a Sectoid) head inside a red circle, with a red line going sideways across the alien, there was a section on the circle missing, probably the part the man had been working on when Aya had found him. There was also several cans of spray paint scattered on the ground around it. And a couple pieces of carboard, probably the stencils he used. "What's this" Maxim asked pointing at the wall

"It's just my little 'Screw you' to the aliens" The man replied

Aya turned to the man "How are you with a gun?" she asked

"What? Uh, well, i know how to use a handgun" he replied

"Follow me" she said, turned, and began walking back towards the skyranger

The man turned and looked at Maxim, who shrugged "Don't look at me"

"But aren't you with her?"

"It's my first day"

"Oh, uh"

"I think it's best if we follow her"

"Hey, whats your name" Maxim asked as they walked back, following Aya

"Karl. Karl Wagner. You?"

"Maxim Popov"

"You're with X-COM?"

"Yep"

"You're new though"

"Yeah, i joined about a week ago"

"How'd you join"

"I applied to a thing"

"I thought you had to be picked"

"So did i"

They made it back to the Burger King and Aya turned around "Come on"

"Where are we going?" Karl asked

"HQ" Aya replied

"Wait... What"

"You seem fun, i think the commander will like you" She was still speaking in a normal voice, but Maxim could hear it slipping into Monotone

"Seriously?"

"Of course"

"Is she serious?" He asked Maxim

"I don't think she jokes"

"I need to get my stuff" Karl said

"I'll help you" Maxim replied

* * *

 **A few** minutes later, they were in the Skyranger, Karl strapped into the seat Aya had been in on the way there, Maxim was in his seat, and Aya was standing at the door to the cockpits while they waited for William and Keith to return from recovering civilians.

"This is intense" Karl said from opposite him

"I know" Maxim replied "This is actually quite like how i was picked up"

"Didn't you say you applied?"

"I never thought i'd actually get in, but when i finished the simulation they were using to test recruits, he just picked me up, and drove me to HQ"

"No explanation?"

"Not really, no"

"Woah"

"Yeah. When you meet the commander, don't be worried, he's very...unorthodox. But he's a good guy"

"Hey, who's the new guy?" William called as he walked up with Keith, noticing Karl

"This is Keith" Maxim said

"Why is he here?" Keith asked

"I asked him to come with" Aya replied, back to her monotone. This seemed to suprise Karl, but he didn't say anything

"Alright then" William said, getting into his seat. Nothing else was said as they flew back to HQ.


	4. Chapter 4: Lessons and Revelations

**I've been releasing these fairly quickly, but, they will probably slow down now, as half-tern is over, so I've got school again. Probably 1 or 2 a week like I said in, part 2, I think. And will then probably slow down again once we get past the base assault mission, since I'll have to do the game as well. If Maxim dies in that mission. I will be so annoyed. If that happens, this will either have to end, or carry on from another character. Hopefully neither of them will happen.**

* * *

 **"That was** a nice shot kid" William said as they entered the lounge, back at HQ "How did you know it was an alien?"

"When it turned I saw a thing on it's arm like the Sectoid's had"

"But how'd ya know shootin' it would cause it to blow?" Karl asked, he had been secretly watching the engagement from the alley before slinking off to do his art

"I didn't" Maxim replied "To be honest. I missed. I was aiming for the chest, but I hit the gun"

"And a good thing you did as well" A voice said from behind, and Maxim turned to see Dr. Vahlen walk in with a tablet in her hand "Some preliminary scans show the new aliens actually have no vital organs in the torso"

"Seriously?" Keith asked "How is that possible?"

"We're not sure, but it seems that, strangely enough, their vital organs are actually all confined to the cranium, and the arms"

"How does that work?" Keith puzzled

"We're not sure, this is just some preliminaries, after we fully dissect it we will know how it works"

"Why'd you come up here to tell us?" Aya asked "Normally you send an assistant with this"

"The Commander wanted me to bring your pick up to him"

"Personally?" Karl asked

"Well, he wanted me to perform some... psychiatric, tests first of course"

"Psychiatric?" Karl sounded scared

"Personality tests mostly"

"Oh. Alright then"

"Follow me" Vahlen looked at the tablet "Mr Wagner, is it?"

"I prefer Karl"

"Follow me"

Karl followed Dr. Vahlen out the room

"Hey, Aya, why'd you bring him anyway?" Keith asked

"He seemed fun, and had a beef with the aliens. Figured the Commander would like him" Aya replied

"Aya, you were talking... Strangely? When you were talking to him"

"Yes"

"Why"

"I don't want non-operatives to know my condition"

"Condition?"

"She's a psychopath kid" William answered "Didn't we tell you earlier"

"Well, yeah, I heard that, but... That's why your voice is so... that"

"Of course, I spoke, 'Normally' around Wagner before so that he wouldn't know" Aya put air quotes around Normal "I know people are unnerved by the way I talk, but, honestly, I don't care, I imitate it around non-operatives because the Commander asked me to. It's part of the stipulations to me being in X-COM"

"Stipulations?" Maxim asked

"Don't kill any non-aliens, don't injure any non-aliens, if possible, don't let non-operatives know about the condition, the basics"

"You needed those stipulations?" Maxim asked, suddenly feeling a little sick

"Not really, I'm not an idiot, I'm not going to do that here, I'd be caught immediately"

"Of course... I'm not feeling well"

"Well don't throw up on me. Last time I got vomit on my armour, Dr. Shen made me clean it myself"

"I'm gonna go to my room" Maxim said as he began leaving the lounge

"Take care of yourself kid" William called after him

Maxim put down the controller, he just wasn't in it right now. Normally he would've had at least 10 headshots by now, but he'd died 4 times, and got 3 kills. He needed to do something, or was going to begin some serious raging. But he didn't want to bump into Aya again. Then he heard a voice over a speaker in the room "Maxim Popov, please report to the Commander's Office". At least if he bumped into Aya now he had an excuse to ignore her.

* * *

 **5 Minutes** later Maxim arrived at the door to the Commander's office, and nocked on the door, "Come in" came the voice of the Commander from inside

"Uh, Commander, you asked for me?" Maxim asked as he opened the door and walked in, and saw the Commander siting behind his desk, with Karl Wagner sitting on the other side

"Ah, Maxim, come on, sit down, would you like a coffee or something?" the Commander said, motioning to another chair

"Uh, no thanks" Maxim replied as he sat down "Why did you want me here?"

"I wanted to talk to you about Karl here"

"Hey" Karl said

"Hey" Maxim replied "Uh, What about him?"

"If he should join X-COM"

"Woah, wait, what" Karl asked "I can join X-COM"

"Potentially"

"Awesome"

"Uh, should we be doing this with him in here?" Maxim asked

"I don't mind" the Commander replied with a smile "But you're right of course. Karl, could you go collect something from Vahlen"

"Collect what?" Karl asked as he got out of his seat

"I don't know"

"Does Vahlen know I'm coming"

"Probably not"

"And I don't know what I'm collecting"

"I'm sure it'll be hilarious, now shoo"

Karl left, looking both confused and worried, quite a feat for a human face to pull off

"So, uh Commander, what did you want to ask me?"

"I already did. Should Karl join X-COM"

Maxim was stunned "I thought you were going to ask me questions about him, not just a straight up question like that"

"I already have the paperwork on him. Vahlen's report says he'll be suitable, I just want to know what **you** think"

"Well, uh. Yes?"

"You don't sound very sure"

"Well I don't know him, I don't know anything about the guy"

"You know enough"

"I don't even know if I'm good enough for X-COM and- Wait"

"Ah, you spotted my trap. Mwa ha ha" the Commander said, putting on an evil laugh

"You already decided to let him join haven't you"

"Of course"

"Then why'd you bring me here"

"To test _You_ of course. Aya said you looked like you were about to vomit after you got back. It can be a symptom of shock"

"That? No, I was just freaking out about Aya"

"What about Aya?"

"The fact that she's a psychopath"

"You knew that already didn't you?"

"I didn't know you made her promise not to kill anyone"

"So you'd rather I not make her promise?"

"I'd rather you didn't need to"

"You know other people have complained about Aya. Shen, Vahlen, All of the council members. You know who haven't complained about her?"

"Who?"

"Me, Keith, and William"

"But"

"Keith and William have fought with her, and they trust her completely. I made her do those promises to appease the council, they weren't necessary, but it made them less mad"

"But, she's a psychopath"

"What do you know about Psychopathology"

"What?"

"It's a field of psychology for investigating mental disorders in the brain. OCD, Depression, Psychopath's"

"What does that have to do with anything"

"Well, you should do some research on it"

"What?"

"Psychopath's aren't want you think. What is your first thought when I say psychopath?"

"Uh"

"Answer honestly"

"Serial Killers?"

"That's what most people say as well, and that's the problem. Sociopath?"

"Is there a difference?"

"I'm not entirely sure myself, I've looked it up, but I've found like 4 definitions, all of which conflict each other"

"Uh"

"But the point is. Not all psychopath's are killers. Most just live through their life as normal, completely unnoticed by everyone. They are smart, they learn to imitate emotional responses like everyone else, and, although they don't feel it themselves, they know that most people find them revolting, scary, or whatever. They live normal lives, and never feel the need to kill dozens of people. Or, if they do, they repress them, and do something else, like everyone else. Most murder are done in a heat of the moment type thing, like 'You're annoying me, and theres a gun... *Bang*'. There are the exceptions of course. But most people could be psychopaths, do you get what I mean"

"Uh. I get all that, but.. Hasn't Aya committed crimes?"

"Oh, a couple, robberies mostly"

"Yeah. I'm not really concerned about the psychopath part too much, it's the fact she's been arrested"

"Which shows that she's willing to do whatever is needed to be done"

"But"

"Look. You don't have to worry about her. She's a smart girl, she only got caught because of a screw up, which was beyond her control. She's not going to kill anyone while she's here, she'd be caught instantly."

"Yeah. But-"

"There's no need to worry about her. Another trait of psychopath's is that they are very logical. Most things they do are on a mechanical basis, not emotional, so, she's actually more predictable than most"

"So she doesn't form attachments?"

"No, she still forms attachments, but it's a logical one. 'when we talk it triggers the emotional centre of my mind, we should do this more often'. If you have any concerns with her. Talk to her about them"

"But-"

"You don't have to worry about it, she can't get offended by it, just explain your concerns to her, and she'll explain them herself. If her voice disconcerts you, ask her to use her 'people' voice"

"But-?"

"I already explained this, she can't get upset by it, just explain why, and she'll do her 'people' voice"

"Commander!"

"Eh?"

"It was a problem. But. After all that explanation, I can accept her being here, even if I don't like it much. But. I've been trying to explain, that wasn't why I was feeling sick earlier"

"Why then?"

"Because.. My.. My parent's live in Birmingham"

"Oh... That makes sense" the Commander looked slightly relieved "Well. This is easier.. Sorry I chewed out your ear earlier. What's their names?"

"Uh, sorry?"

"I'll do a quick search, call in a favour, and I'll check if your parents were part of the abductees"

"Just like that?"

"As the Commander of X-COM I have quite a few resources available"

"You'll.. You'll use them on me?"

"Of course, the condition of my operatives is my top priority... Names?"

"Oh, yeah, uh, Bogdan and Dzvezda Popov"

"Alright... Uh, Bogdan spelt like it sounds?"

"B-O-G-D-A-N, yes"

"Alright... Uh.. How do you spell the other one?"

"Dzvezda. D-Z-V-E-D-A"

"O.K... Just a moment" the Commander tapped some keys on a computer in front of him

"Why do you use papers if you have a computer?" Maxim realized

"Because the aliens can't intercept paper transmissions like they can electronic. Ah. here we are. Bogdan and Dus...Dez.. Sorry, I don't know how to pronounce her name"

"Few people can" Maxim admitted

"This is them right" the Commander said, turning the screen around, and showing a picture of his parents

"That's them.. Yes"

"I'll have someone check round their house, make sure they're still there. It'll take an hour or 2, but i'll send someone to get you"

"Thank you, so much Commander"

"No problem, I need to make sure you don't have a panic attack In the middle of an operation" the Commander smiled "You may want to get out of here before Vahlen comes to yell at me for sending Karl"

"Oh yeah, good idea" Maxim quickly got up, and went back to his room, relieved that the Commander is checking on his parents, but still worried about what he could find.


	5. Chapter 5: Operation Pyrrhic Blade

**Maxim sat** in the Skyranger. They were going to Japan somewhere. He wasn't sure exactly where, he'd been too relieved when the Commander had told him his parents were fine to pay attention to where they were going. The science team had been busy, they had laser weapons now. They weren't quite finished with them, they still needed to make the special variants, like sniper rifles, shotguns, and machine guns, but they had pistols and rifles, they were really cool. He'd tried out his pistol a few times, he felt like he was in a Sci-Fi movie, firing lasers, fucking lasers. He was still giddy about it. There was 5 of them on this operation, Aya, Keith, William, Himself, and Karl, the new guy they picked up last time.

"Wait. Karl, you don't have a call sign" Maxim said

"Call sign?" Karl asked

William pointed to them all in turn "Psycho, Scotch, Crash, and Vampire. We need one to call you"

"I don't know" Karl said

"You don't get to pick" Maxim said, a bit annoyed that they'd given him a chance to choose his own

"He's right, we gotta give you one" Keith said

"He's a street artist right?" Aya asked

"Yeah" Karl answered

"What about, Paint, or Spray or something like that" Maxim jumped in

"I like Spray" Keith said

"It's agreed then. You're Spray" William said

"Why is his better?" Maxim moaned

"Because he's cooler" Keith replied

They landed and they moved out. They were at an office building.

"The aliens attack weird places" Maxim noticed "A Burger King, now an office. What's next, an amusement park"

"That'd be fun" Karl said

"Enough chit chat guys. There's another lamp post for you Vampire. Scotch, come with me. Spray, Psycho, head inside"

They broke off, Aya and Karl going to opposite sides of a door inside the building. Maxim jogged to his lamp post, and crouched behind it. William and Keith began heading up the middle, going to take cover behind a fountain.

"Thin Men, inside" Aya shouted, using the name that had been given to the new aliens they encountered last time, followed by a flash, and a whoosh noise as Karl opened fire "We've got them" she moved inside, and pumped a shell into the other creatures head. Maxim hoped he didn't get body duty again.

"Wait a second. I think I see something" Maxim said as he scanned the building. Bottom floor, across from Crash and Scotch. I only saw an arm, but it didn't look human"

"Keep your eye on it" William said "Scotch, head round, see if you can get eyes on it"

"On it" Keith said, running around the fountain for a better angle "Woah, big fuckers!"

"What is it" William asked

"Really big aliens. I think we need a rocket for this one. Aim for that table, they're gathered around it"

"Good idea" William said, taking the rocket launcher off his back "This is going to take out the wall as well. Get ready, anything behind there's probably going to leg it" He waited a few seconds until Psycho and Spray had come up, then launched it. Destroying the corner of the office. When the noise from the blast died down, they heard a very loud roaring.

"They're not dead!?" Keith shouted, bringing up his rifle, just missing one of the creatures

Maxim got his first real look at the aliens though where the hole used to be, they were huge things, probably 7 to 8 feet tall, bulky, clearly extremely muscled, and were wearing some kind of armour, now scorched by the blast. He brought up his rifle, and fired a shot into the head of one as it ran for cover "We can kill them though"

There was another whoosh as Karl fired his rifle at another one, there was a red flash, and the alien stumbled, but kept running, until a second shot from Karl brought it down. But the final alien reached a bit of wall that remained standing, and raised it's rifle, firing its ball of plasma, which struck the fountain Aya was behind, splashing her in a small amount of plasma. Aya screamed and dropped her shotgun as she tried to wipe the plasma off of her face. William rose from behind the fountain with his machine gun in hand, and sprayed the alien with bullets, destroying the bit of wall it was behind, but it ducked under the spray. Maxim readjusted his aim, and pumped a shot, which skimmed it's arm, but failed to do any real damage. Finally Karl ran close to it, his rifle practically pressed against it's head, and fired, point blank into the aliens head, just as it swung around to shoot him. The aliens head disappeared in a puff of dust as the rifle disintegrated it's entire skull. Keith ran over to Aya, producing some kind of spray from a holster, "Move your hands, you'll be fine" he said as he sprayed a blue mist onto her face. Aya hauled herself to her feet once Keith was done, on hand holding her shotgun, the other still covering her face

"I'm fine" she said, but she swayed slightly as she stood "Any left?" she asked into the coms

"3 left" Bradford replied over the coms

"They're probably on the other side" Maxim said as he stood up from behind his lamp post

"Right. Vampire, Scotch, you guys head over there" William said "Psycho, Spray, you come with me" They began moving into the building to go around the other side.

"That was a close one" Maxim said as he met Keith by the door

"No kidding" Keith replied

"Will she be alright"

"She'll be fine, that spray got the plasma off. But she'll probably have some scars there, and she'll need some time off after this to heal"

"At least she'll heal though"

"No kidding. If that-" Keith began

"Get ready to breach" William called over the coms "I'm starting this off with another rocket. Try to keep one alive"

Keep one alive? Oh, that's right. Vahlen had created, what Maxim liked to call an 'Uber Tazer', so they could capture one of the aliens

"When you hear it explode, breach and take your shots" William called

They heard a bang as he opened the door, followed by a loud bang as the rocket went off. Keith opened the door and fired off a beam, striking one of the aliens, the same kind of aliens as the last 3, striking it straight between the eyes. Maxim brought up his pistol, firing the beam, hitting another one in the arm. Maxim saw 2 bright flashes, and the 3rd alien fell to the floor. Maxim was about to raise his pistol for a second shot, when Aya came sprinting around with the 'Uber Tazer' in hand, she raised it to the alien, and it fell to the ground, convulsing as electricity pulsed through it.

"Great job, all contacts down" Bradford said over the coms

"NOT IT" Maxim shouted, touching his nose

Keith looked at him "What"

"I'm not doing clean up again"

* * *

 **Half an** hour later and Maxim was getting back on the Skyranger, Aya was already there, in her seat, a hand still covering her face "Are you alright?"

"I'm in pain, but I'll live" Aya took a shaky breath and moved her hand from her face, turning to look at him "How does it look"

Aya had a serious burn on the left side of her face, the skin was red and swollen, but he couldn't see any bone, so Maxim knew it wasn't as serious as it could have been, but it still looked pretty bad "Not too bad" he lied

"You not a good liar"

"Sorry"

"I do appreciate the attempt to calm me"

"No problem"

"But honestly. How bad does it look"

"Well, it's a serious burn. I don't know much about injuries though. I can't see bone, so it's not too horrible. It's probably going to scar though"

Maxim heard a grunt, and turned to see Karl, who had been assigned body duty (It was looking like the new guys always got that job), dragging one of the new aliens by it's legs, it looked heavy). "Don't mind me. I'm just dragging this stupid fucker to the ship" Karl complained

Maxim got up and began moving over to help when he heard a groan, and saw the alien start to drag itself up. It moved it's legs, and Karl fell to the ground, it moved on top of him, and was about to wrap it's hands around his neck when the was a bang and it collapsed on top of him, blood spraying from a hole newly bored in it's skull. Maxim ran over, and pushed it over, Karl gasped and dragged himself out, turning over and vomiting on the ground. "Oh god" Karl retched again "That blood is horrible. Thanks for that by the way"

"It wasn't me" Maxim said, and turned to Aya, who was standing by the edge of the skyranger, a hand covering her face again, she shook her head.

"Then who-" Karl began, interrupting himself as he saw a man walking up, a smoking pistol in hand "Who are you?"

"You're welcome" the man said, he had a thick Japanese accent, hardly surprising, they were in Japan.

"Who're you" Karl asked again

"My name's Ryo Goto"

"Well, thank you Mr. Goto"

"No problem, one of these mother fuckers killed my friends, I'm going to pretend it was that one"

"Who's this" William asked as he and Keith came walking around the building "Are we just picking people up now?"

"This is Ryo. He saved Karl when the alien got back up" Aya stated, still in her monotone

"Well, guess we know Aya's opinion" Keith said "You wanna come with us?"

"Join X-COM?" Ryo asked

"If the Commander agrees" William replied

"A chance to bring the fight to the aliens. Of course"

"Well then. Come on, we're leaving" William said as he began getting on the Skyranger, but we almost pushed off the ramp as Karl ran back down, a stencil under one arm, and several spray cans in his hands. "Woah, what're you doing?"

"I gotta leave my calling card" Karl replied as he ran to the nearest wall, and began spraying the stencil

"Should we-?" Maxim began

"Let him have his fun" Aya replied as she walked back into the Skyranger

"Let's get this guy on the ship" William said as he began dragging the alien on board

Maxim walked over to watch Karl do his painting.

* * *

 **A few** minutes later Karl stood up, and removed the stencil from the wall "Whadda ya think"

On the wall was an image of the X-COM logo in blue, with the words 'SUCK IT ALIENS' written in red around it

"It's..."

I know it's crude, but it's just my screw you to the aliens, so I think it fits"

"It's certainly memorable"

"Thanks"

"We should head back to HQ"

"Sure" Karl shuddered

"You alright?"

"Yeah, just, that alien blood was horrible, I think I need my stomach pumped"

"You should probably have the doctors at HQ check that out. The blood might be poisonous or something"

"Good idea"


	6. Chapter 6: VIP(lasma)

**Probably 3 more missions before we get to the base assault. The descriptions of these should get better. Since I can write them up as I play the mission. So if they seem to be hitting too often for X-COM, or not getting Injured enough, that will probably change at the base mission. I've been doing them as accurately as I remember, but you remember things as you want to, so I'm probably making them more badass than they actually were.**

* * *

 **Maxim sat** in the skyranger yet again. It was only a few weeks ago that they'd gone to that office in Japan. The Commander had decided that Aya would not be joining them, although she had said she was fine, the Commander insisted that she take a week or so more to heal. So instead, the new guy they had picked up, Ryo Goto, he had shown himself to be amazing with his pistol, but also no slouch with a sniper rifle, he gave Maxim a run for his money. But sniping was Maxim's things, he refused to be beaten by that gangster, he had actually found himself working out, and using the shooting range instead of playing video games. He wasn't sure how he felt about it, he was in better shape, of course, but he was worried he would lose his edge at gaming. He may be a soldier now, but he was still a gamer. As it was, Maxim was still the group Sniper, Ryo was doing a more, Gunslinger-type role. So he'd either become an assault or a sniper, depending on what was needed. Maxim didn't like him. He had saved Karl's life, but they just didn't get on, he was too serious, and Maxim could tell Ryo didn't like him either. At least it was mutual. He'd been given the call sign 'Xeno' after the name of his old gang, Maxim wasn't sure what the gang had been called, and he didn't care to learn. They had also recruited in another soldier, this time not on the field, the Commander had found someone else to join, Masambe Gigkale. He was their Heavy Gunner. William was alright with his machine gun, but Masambe was a real expert with it. Masambe was a massive guy, he looked like a boxer, and was bigger than William, even when William was in his armour and he wasn't. He'd been given the call sign 'Whirr', after the sound of his machine gun. With his armour on he was a truly massive guy, not as big as the 'Mutons', as they had taken to calling the ones they met last time, he had no idea why, and didn't think he'd want to know.

The science team had been busy as well. They now had laser weapons in the form of Machine guns and Sniper Rifles, and the Shotguns were set to be finished in a few days. He liked the laser rifle. It was lighter than the bullet version, and had virtually no recoil, it also fired light, so no need to account for distance, movement or wind, it made his job a lot easier.

This operation was different, they were here to pick up a V.I.P. A person that was abducted by the aliens, and escaped. So they were going to pick her up before the aliens got her, and see if she could tell them anything. This time they'd be picking her up, then going back to base. So he wouldn't end up getting stuck with body duty again. Yay.

* * *

 **They touched** down at a town centre, Maxim had quite forgotten where they were going, it didn't really matter after all.

"Vampire, get on top of that bus, should give you a good view" William said, pointing towards a bus to his right. Maxim saw a ladder on the side and began moving towards it, keeping his head down. Why was there a ladder on the bus? He'd never seen ladders on a bus before. He hadn't even seen any buses with ladders on them in any game or movie he'd ever seen. This was a weird bus. His mind was wandering. This was odd, his mind didn't normally wander like this. "-With me" William finished. Maxim had been lost in his thoughts, he had no idea who was doing what. He climbed on top of the bus, up the ladder that shouldn't be-. No. Stop. Focus.

"Thin Men over here" Keith called "2 of them" followed by the whoosh of a laser weapon "Damn it"

"They're behind a car" Ryo said, and threw a grenade, it exploded on the car, injuring the aliens huddling behind it, and setting the car alight, but it didn't explode just yet.

The aliens scattered to get away from the burning car, one was dropped by a double-shot from Karl. Masambe and William too far away to be able to harm them (the energy of the beams dissipated rather quickly from the machine guns). Maxim swung round, but the alien ducked behind another car before he could get a shot off, the alien then popped above cover, and leaned back, Maxim was getting ready to shoot when he saw some green gas come flying out of the aliens mouth, and fly towards Keith and Ryo, enveloping them in a green, slightly opaque bubble of gas. they both began to cough and scrambled out of the cloud "They spit poison!" Keith shouted

Maxim heard a voice over the com "A type of poison, designed to debilitate those infected, the stim's built into your armour will bolster your immune system, but it will still damage your lungs, so prolonged exposure is not recommended" Dr. Vahlen gave her report on the toxin's, picked up by their armour's sensors.

"Poison bad" another voice said. Clearly Aya's, she was probably listening in on her coms.

Maxim chuckled. But was snapped out of it by a loud boom as the car finally exploded. He quickly turned, and fired a shot, but the alien had already ducked down, and all the shot did was burn a hole In the car. Keith took cover behind the exploded car, and fired, burning a hole right through the alien's head.

"Rest up for a second. Scotch, sort yourself and Xeno out" Williams said "Vampire, keep an eye out. Everyone else, form up here" He called as he took position behind a plant pot near the fountain. The others taking positions nearby. As Masambe took up his position behind a small pillar near to William he shouted out "3 Sectoids!"

Maxim swivelled, and fired a shot, you can't see the shot go, as it literally fires a beam of light, but the Sectoid didn't fall down, so Maxim assumed he missed. Masambe levelled his machine gun, and the loud whirr of it charging up, was followed by a loud screech as one of the aliens dropped, dozens of holes burned through it. One of the Sectoid's saw Maxim, and levelled it's plasma pistol. Maxim immediately dropped, but, as he did, he saw some purplish lights dancing in the air between the 2 remaining Sectoid's, and the plasma bolt, which had sailed over his head initially, flew back around, and struck his leg. "Ah! Fuck. That burns" Maxim cried out as the plasma burned into his leg. But he remembered enough from what Keith had told him, and didn't try to wipe it away, that would just spread it further. He grabbed the small device they all had, and sprayed some red-ish gas on the burn, the plasma was neutralised, and stopped burning his leg, but the damage was already done, Maxim didn't think he should use that leg if he could help it. Fortunately, laying down still gave him a good view, and he saw the Sectoid that the purplish lights were coming from disintegrate under a deluge of lasers from Masambe. Maxim saw the lights change colour, and the dancing changed, and he heard a small squeak, as the other Sectoid fell to the ground.

"Vamp. You alright?" Keith called. Maxim looked over, and saw him coming towards him.

"I'm fine, just a burn on the leg. We can deal with it later" Maxim said. Gritting his teeth to get through the pain. He had no idea how Aya managed with the plasma burn on her face, but he did supposed the med-kits so have pain killers in them, so that would have helped.

"You sure?" Keith asked again

"It's just my leg. I don't need it to shoot. I can still hop if I need to"

"Alright. Keep an eye out" William said. "V.I.P up ahead. Spray, go get her, we'll cover you"

"Gotcha" Karl called, and he began to jog forward, as the rest of the team took up position near the fountain

"More Thin Men" Masambe called. Maxim turned himself, using his uninjured leg, and took a shot at the aliens, one dropping to the ground as the others scattered to hide behind cars, they didn't make it 2 steps before they dropped, holes burned through them by the lasers.

"Ma'am?" Karl said softly. The woman was too far away for him to hear the reply, as she didn't have a coms device like they did to pick up their voices. "We're X-COM. We're here to get you out of here" again Maxim couldn't hear the response, but Karl began moving back to the fountain, the woman coming with him.

"Head's up guys. X-Rays inbound on your position" Bradford called over the coms

The group began moving back towards the skyranger, but suddenly several thin men dropped out of the sky. Maxim had no idea where they came from, but had no time to worry about that, as one landed just a few feet behind him on the bus. "Holy mother!" he cured as he whipped around the sniper rifle, and fired, the alien fell backwards off the bus. Maxim heard more whooshes as the others fired their lasers, and by the time he looked back around, the other thin men that had dropped were on the ground.

The next minute was uneventful, they moved towards the skyranger, moving slowly and keeping their weapons ready. The V.I.P following behind keeping ducked down behind any cover she could find. Maxim dragged himself to the other side of the bus. Avoiding the gas cloud the Thin Men left behind them when they died. He was now on the other side of the bus, looking towards the skyranger. If he was the aliens, that would be where he would drop, directly in their path.

Sure enough, a few seconds later, as the rest of the team were just a few feet from coming off the raised platform of the square. Maxim fired a shot, striking one of the Thin Men right in the forehead the second it landed. The other one was shredded by the fire of the others as they reacted. It fell to the ground in a pile of dust. Apparently firing enough beams of energy into something would cause it to disintegrate.

"Come on Vampire, we're out" William called as the V.I.P entered the skyranger, and the others formed a defensive circle around it.

Maxim dragged himself over to the ladder. Which still shouldn't be there. Stuck out his injured leg, and climbed down with his arms and un-injured leg. And then began the arduous task of hopping to the skyranger.

No other Thin Men dropped down. Either there were no more waiting, or they realized they couldn't break through the soldiers guarding it, and declared the V.I.P as a lost cause.

* * *

 **Maxim sat** in the skyranger, his leg extended in front of him. Keith looked at him from his seat. He'd wanted to take care of the wound before they left. But their Pilot declared that alien craft were closing in, and the skyranger couldn't take one of them on by itself. So they'd taken off immediately. Maxim grimaced every time the craft rocked from turbulence, moving his Injured leg. He'd probably be spending some time in the infirmary after this, but he didn't really mind. He had some portable game devices, so he could just spend his time getting back into the game. He chucked inwardly at his own pun. But was cut off halfway through by another patch of turbulence, this brought a moan of pain, as his armour rubbed against the wound. He looked at the E.T.A timer on the wall. 2 hours until they returned to HQ. This was not going to be fun.

Maxim hopped down the Skyranger's ramp, supported on his injured side by Keith. The walk/hop to the infirmary was mercifully short, since they'd designed the place so that injured soldiers could be taken to the infirmary quickly. Keith helped Maxim into one of the beds (There was a rather disconcerting number of beds. But he supposed the Commander preferred to be prepared for the worst). Maxim turned around on the bed to let Keith get a look at the wound.

Keith was quiet. Maxim began, for lack of better words, shitting it. What if the wound was worse than he thought? What if he lost the leg? What if it was infected and he got blood rot? That was a thing right? He was pretty sure that was a thing. These and many other thoughts went through his head in the space of the 4 seconds Keith examined the wound for. The Keith looked at him and said "This was close. Another few seconds on your leg and it would have got to the bone. Nothing permanent. I'd say within a few weeks you'll be back on your feet"

"Seriously?"

"I don't lie to my patients. You'll probably have one hell of a scar though"

"Oh"

"But it's on your leg, so who's going to see it"

"What if I wear shorts?"

"Do you wear shorts?"

"Not really, no"

"Then you don't have a problem" Keith took out his med-kit and sprayed the wound. The pain almost disappeared instantly "That'll help you with the pain. One of the infirmary doctors will be with you in a minute"

"Thanks doc"

"It's what I'm here for" Keith said as he walked out of the room "By the way, you're starting to sound like the commander" Before Maxim could comment on that, the Doctor was already gone

"Hey Vampire" Maxim heard a voice say from his right. He turned. But he already knew who it was. He only knew one person who spoke in that Monotone, and called him Vampire out of the field.

"Hi Aya" Maxim replied, looking over at her. She was in a bed next to him, in a sitting position. A bandage wrapped around the side of her face that got burned

"How'd you get injured"

"Sectoid got me in the leg with a plasma shot"

"The leg? It sounds like you're not using cover right"

"It missed, then it used some telekinesis or something, and the plasma turned around and got my leg"

"That must've sucked"

"It did. But it's not as bad as your, you got it in the face"

"I know"

"How are you doing by the way?"

"I'm fine, it's mostly healed now. The Commander's making me stay here for a few more days, to make sure it's fully healed"

"Are you going to have a scar?"

"Most likely, yes"

"What about your eye?"

"What about my eye"

"It looked like it might have been damaged in the shot"

"No, my eye's fine. The blink reflex is very fast"

"Well, at least there's that"

They sat in silence for a while, before the doctor came in, and Maxim had his leg taken care of. Apparently he was going to be off for almost a month. He didn't know whether he was happy or disappointed by that.

* * *

 **I was going to put in a cliff hanger. Then I realized. I've already said Maxim's still around. So Cliff hanger's wont really work until the base mission. At least for Maxim :-)**


	7. Chapter 7: Time Off

**Maxim poked** the skin around his leg. It was still red and sore, but was almost fully healed. A couple more days, the doctors said, and he'd be back to going on missions. He'd left the infirmary after a week, and spent the rest of the month in his room, playing his games. He wasn't exactly excited about returning to missions, but he also wasn't upset. Over the last month the Commander had recruited a couple more people. Maxim met them briefly, as did everyone, as they were introduced to everyone. They were twins, Joe and Harold Sanders, they were identical twins, but it was easy to distinguish them, Harold's hair was the same sandy blonde as his brothers, but he had it cropped short in a small Mohawk, whereas Joe had his about shoulder-length. Harold also had several scars, the most distinguishing of which was a slash going from the corner of his lip to his left ear. They were part of a special forces before X-COM, though they never said which, and it had operated much like X-COM, a small, elite force, moving in for surgical strikes against weak points. Harold had been the explosives and close assault expert, he was a master with his shotgun, he even gave Aya a run for her money, and was almost as good as William with explosives, he was also taking the place of backup-leader. So if William is ever unable to go on an operation, Harold would lead the squad. Joe was a kind of support soldier, he was more versatile than the others, he was both the medic, and a soldier, he was not as good a medic as Keith, but he made up for that with his speed and ability with his rifle.

During the week that Maxim had spent in the infirmary he felt he had gotten to know Aya much better, she didn't tell him anything about her past, beyond what could be found by a simply google search, but he did learn one little tid bit of information, apparently, Aya wasn't her real name. He didn't know what her real name was, she refused to tell him, apparently, only 2 people in the world knew her real name, and they were people she had known her before she'd changed her name. She didn't plan on telling anyone apparently. When he'd asked her why she'd told him about it then, she'd shrugged, and said she knew she could trust him not to tell anyone else (which was true, Maxim always kept true to his word if possible, he didn't like lying), and she was running out of other things to talk about after spending almost a week with only Maxim for company. They'd played some games on his portable devices, and it was clear Aya had some natural skill at games, probably the soldier training, but she couldn't compete with Maxim's knowledge of games and their working's, so he beat her in every game they played (Maxim also never believed in holding back in games), she did especially well in fast paced games, where most things were done in a spur-of-the-moment way, but did horribly in the slower-paced, thinking-it-through games, she grew impatient at waiting, and made mistakes. The other's visited them every now and then, Karl most of all. Maxim and Karl had built up quite a friendship, probably because they were the only 2 who were regular people, who had been picked up, and put into X-COM by the eccentric Commander, so felt they needed to stick together, but they were also quite alike in personality too. Karl told him of the time he'd spray painted a shark mouth onto the skyranger, and Dr. Shen had made him clean the entire thing with a toothbrush as punishment. Karl was a lot more out-going than Maxim, but they got along, and were great friends, Karl even joined in with the gaming when Aya didn't want to, Karl was good as well, but still nowhere near Maxim's level. Keith visited often as well, sometimes it was a medical check-up (As he worked as a medic in the base as well as in the field), but he did also just visit to talk sometimes as well, they were friends too, Keith understood what he was going through, much like Karl, and talked to him about it, Maxim sometimes wondered if it was Keith that kept him sane through all this. The others were friends as well, but not as close as Keith, Karl and Aya. Except for Ryo, he still couldn't stand the guy. Ryo couldn't keep up with Maxim as a sniper on the whole, but, in terms of versatility, Ryo could also run forward if needed, but Maxim didn't fancy his chances at close range, Maxim knew they wouldn't replace him as a sniper, but he also knew there were some operations they'd take him on over Maxim, places where Maxim wouldn't be able to get a good view. Maxim knew that, and was fine with it. He wasn't worried about being replaced, which is where rivalries often occurred, it was just that their personalities clashed. Ryo had been and gangster, but was a rather strange one, he wasn't the stereotypical 'Ey, get a load of Johnny tight-lips over ere', he was more of a... 'do what we say, or you'll disappear' type, too, uptight, he wanted everything done to his standards, Maxim wore baggy t-shirts and trousers, rarely ironed, and Ryo wore a crisp, finely pressed suit. Ryo was constantly yelling at him for any slight, even when he was in the infirmary, and would stop by occasionally, bang on his door, and yell at him to 'GET OFF YOUR ASS' apparently Ryo didn't appreciate doing anything with your time, that wasn't preparing for the next fight.

* * *

 **"Hey, Max** , you In here" he heard the voice of Karl as the door. Karl had started calling him Max a couple weeks ago, apparently Maxim was a mouthful. Maxim had a couple nicknames now, used by some of the members of X-COM, Aya called him Vampire, he was starting to not mind it anymore, it was just what Aya called him. Karl, Keith, and William called him Max, he had no idea when they started doing it, but it had faded in, and now they called him Max, he didn't mind, his friends at school had often called him Max when he was younger. The others still called him Maxim, except for Ryo, who called him a variety of "Nerd, Jackass, Geek" and a variety of other names, he didn't mind being called Nerd or Geek, he was one, and was not ashamed to admit it, it was the other names that annoyed him. Maxim imagined that if he was a bigger guy he'd have smacked him, but he knew Ryo could kick his ass with little effort.

"Yeah" Maxim called back, he paused his game and put the remote down as Karl walked in

"How's ya leg doin'" Karl asked

"Pretty good, it still stings a big, but that's about it. I'll be back to missions in a week"

"That's great, I hope you take over Ryo" Karl also couldn't stand Ryo, for much the same reasons Maxim did. He kept insisting they act more professional, the only reason Ryo didn't stop Karl from spray-painting the 'logo' after every mission, was because the others insisted he let him do it, and he eventually relented.

"Wanna play" Maxim asked motioning to the T.V

"Isn't that single-player?"

"I have more than the one game"

"I thought you were in the middle of something"

"Not really"

"All right then"

* * *

 **Karl stayed** in the room for a few hours, they played games, told jokes, and generally 'hung out'

An alarm rang out. "Operatives, Keith Taylor, Karl Wagner, William Ward, Aya Haidar, Ryo Goto, and Masambe Digkale to mission control"

"Looks like I gotta go" Karl said, standing up

"Saved by the bell" Maxim laughed, pausing the game. It was true as well, they were playing a wrestling game, and Maxim had been 3 seconds away from pinning him

"I'll tell ya about the mission when I get back" Karl called over his shoulder as he walked out, chuckling lightly to himself

A few seconds later Maxim realized, they'd called Aya. He thought she was still in the infirmary. He pressed the power button, and run-limped out of the room (the leg still hurt a bit if he put his full weight on it).

* * *

 **Maxim got** to the Infirmary and encountered the doctor, a short woman with long black hair. "Hello Maxim" she said, checking a tabled in her hand "You aren't scheduled for a check up on your leg until tomorrow"

"Hey Rebecca. I heard the announcement. Is Aya ready to got on a mission? I thought she was still in recovery"

"Technically, yes. But, you know Aya, she heard the aliens had struck, and insisted she be allowed to join in"

"Is that safe"

"She was fine. She'd healed up completely, she was more being kept off for observation than for any real medical reason"

"Oh. I thought she was still injured"

"Understandable, she has quite substantial facial scars from the burn, they'll fade a bit over the next week, but she'll still have those scars"

"Really?"

"Yes, unless she gets a skin-transplant to hide it, which, knowing her, she'll never see the need to. Like your leg, but more noticeable. And speaking of, since your here, and I don't have any patients, we might as well do your check up now. Hop up" she said, patting the bed

Maxim did as she said, and hopped up, rolling up his trouser leg to give access to the burn

"Does this hurt" she said, poking the edge of the burn

"Not really, a bit of a sting"

"How about when you walk?"

"It hurts a bit, I still limp a bit"

"That's to be expected, another couple of days and you should be fully healed. Best to keep the dressing on anyway though, if nothing else, it will stop it brushing against your clothes"

"Thanks doc"

"It's why I'm here. And, no offence, but, I hope I don't see you for a while"

Maxim chuckled, it was a joke she made with every patient, but Maxim and Karl were the only one's that actually found it funny

* * *

 **The group** arrived back at HQ just under 2 hours later. They got off the skyranger wearing different armour, it looked bulkier, but he knew it was actually lighter than their previous armour, the Engineering team had been busy. Apparently they were planning to work on a new set of armour, with a grappling hook, but were prioritising the interrogation of the aliens for now, to find out what they know. Aya was the first off, she held her helmet under her arm, and Maxim got his first look at her face with the scar (There had been a bandage covering it while she was in the infirmary). It was a big scar, a massive burn on the left side of her face, mostly on her cheek, but also going up almost to her ear. The others following behind. "Hey, Max" Karl called as he spotted him "Ya gotta hear what Masambe did" jogging over to talk to him

"What'd he do?"

"He went toe-to-toe with a Muton"

"What do you mean, toe-to-toe?"

"He had a short wrestling match with one"

"Seriously?"

"Yeah, his gun jammed when the alien was right next to him, so Masambe punched it in the face"

"That's awesome"

"Yeah, he ended up full on tradin' blows with it"

"Who won?"

"Aya shot it after a few seconds, so we didn't get to see the end"

"That's a bit disappointing"

"Yeah, it's too bad we didn't get to see Masambe knock out a Muton"

"Still amazing though, I wish I'd been there"

"You should've been, it was awesome"

"Was it anything special?"

"Nah, just the regular alien attack. We were at another take out place"

"Seriously? What have the aliens got against fast food"

"Maybe they're going there for the food before they attack"

"Imagine a Sectoid with a burger and fries"

"God that's perfect... I'm so going to draw that"

"Show me it when you're done"

"Always. I gotta go. See ya latter"

"See ya"

Karl jogged off to his room to get his paints.

"Hey, Vampire" Aya called from behind him

Maxim turned and saw Aya on the other side of the room, at the door leading to the armoury "Come here"

Maxim walked over, still with a little bit of a limp, he saw Ryo on the way, and they exchanged glares, but neither said anything.

"What's up?" Maxim asked as he got over to Aya

"Just come in, I've got something to show you"

"What is it?"

Aya didn't reply, and walked in. Maxim followed

Once they were inside Maxim asked "What's going on?"

Aya turned around, holding some kind of device in her hand, after a few seconds Maxim realized what it was, it was the plasma pistols the aliens used, which self-destructed upon death, It was in one piece.

"How'd you get that?"

"We took a Sectoid captive. I got this off it's arm on the way back"

"Why'd you bring me here then, just give it to Shen"

"I wanted to give it to you"

"What?"

"Shen would take it apart, and use it for research. But you can actually use it properly"

"I don't know how to work it"

"I worked that out on the way back, it's got a thing here, that goes in your palm, you squeeze it, and the pistol fires"

"Why don't you use it?"

"I've got my shotgun"

"I've got my sniper rifle"

"But if an alien gets too close, you have to use the lazer, and the plasma weapons are better"

"Won't Shen want it"

Aya sighed "Just take it Vampire, isn't it customary to accept presents when offered them?"

"Alright, thanks"

"No worries, I'd rather not have you die if an alien gets behind you"

Aya left before Maxim could respond. He just stared at the weapon in his hand, and wondered what was going on.

* * *

 **I just realized I'd never said this before. So, thank you for reading, and for sticking with the story so far.**


	8. Chapter 8: The Muton Incindent

**"Operatives Keith** Taylor, Aya Haidar, Maxim Popov, Masambe Digkale, and Harold and Joe Sanders please report to the hangar"

Maxim put down his controller. Perfect timing, as always, he was 2 minutes off finishing the game, with a 20/0 kill/death ratio. He sighed, turned off his console, and went to the hangar. Part way there he realized, Karl wasn't coming. That was new, Every other mission he'd been on, Karl had come. At least Keith and Aya were coming, he'd only been on 1 other mission with Masambe, and the other 2 were new. On the up side, Ryo wasn't coming. He couldn't take that if HE came. They'd probably end up killing each other if Karl wasn't there to take some of Ryo's frustration.

A few minutes later Maxim arrived at the armoury. Dr. Shen was there waiting for him. "Oh shit", Maxim thought. He was suddenly very aware of the plasma device Aya had given him a week ago "Hi doc" he said, trying to act casual, but he could feel the blush beginning to spread across his face, he really wished he had darker skin right now, a blush would be so obvious on his pale skin. Fortunately, Shen wasn't really looking at him, instead he motioned to a suit of armour on the wall "We finished your armour during your injury time, I'm here to brief you on it's use". Normally Maxim would have said something, but didn't trust his voice at the moment, so he just nodded.

What followed was a, thankfully, short talk with Dr. Shen, as he explained the parameters of the new armour. It was very light, when Maxim put it on, he could swear his rifle was heavier than the armour. It also had some small servo's in the legs, that would absorb the impacts from long drops, like their last armour had, but this would also be able to power their movements, allowing them to move faster with less effort. It was also tougher than their last suit, but he also said not to take it too strongly, the strength had it's limit, a direct hit could still get through it, as would several glancing hits. So overall. It was better armour, lighter, and would support their movements, but it's still better to avoid getting shot... Well fucking durr.

* * *

 **"Hey Max"** Keith said as he saw Maxim entering the hangar, "How's the leg?"

"Fine thanks"

"Well come on. We've got an I.F.O to clear" (That's what the called the alien crafts, Since they couldn't be U.F.O's after being identified, and Flying Saucer just sounded a bit silly. So they're Identified Flying Objects)

"Let's go" They got onto the ship and began their journey, Maxim saw Aya looking at him and was about to ask why she was looking at him, when he remembered, he still had the plasma pistol on his back. And he shifted around and got it out, clamping it onto the armour (He'd found it had some sort of mag-lock, if you put it on something for a few seconds, it would clamp itself on), with the trigger in his palm. She nodded when he did that and stopped looking.

"What's that?" Harold, who would be the squad leader for the mission, asked as he noticed it

"Oh, it's a, uh, one of the... Things the aliens have" Maxim blurted, holding it up for him to see

"Where'd you get it?"

Maxim spared a quick glance at Aya, who had no expression, then quickly scanned the rest of the ship so that Harold wouldn't know he had looked at Aya specifically, then said "Last time I was out, I grabbed one of an alien"

"Don't they explode when they die?"

"It was one of the one's we captured, I managed to get it off as I was dragging it back to the ship" Maxim lied through his teeth, hoping Harold wouldn't realize that the only mission they'd captured a Sectoid at was one he hadn't been on. But luckily Harold also hadn't been on the mission.

"Well, you should put that thing to good use"

"If they get too close, I will"

* * *

 **They set** down in a clearing in a forest, but it clearly wasn't a natural clearing, there was burns on the ground and a deep pit gouged in the ground.

"At least we know where they landed" Aya said, pointing down to the end of the pit, where they could just make out the outline of a ship.

"Looks like Ace did a number on them" Keith said, noting the damage caused by the crash, referring to the call sign of the pilot that had shot it down "I'm amazed they can even take them down in the ships we have"

"They send 2 out at once, so they can attack it from 2 sides" Maxim said, remembering what the Commander had told him they did, he still wasn't sure why he had.

"Enough talk. There's a good spot over there Vampire" Pointing to a chunk of debris that would make for good cover "Smokes, Psycho, with me. Scotch, Whirr, follow us on the other side" (Smokes referring to his twin, called so because of his seemingly endless supply of cigars... and his use of smoke grenades) The 2 groups split up, one taking the left of the pit, one on the right, Maxim in the middle, covering them.

The 2 groups advanced slowly, going from cover to cover, Maxim kept an eye on the trees, switching to either side at random (He never set up a pattern, since if they could see him, they could take advantage of that to attack when he wasn't looking), they were just getting right up to the ship when Harold called to him over the coms "We're almost at the ship, and no contacts, they may be hiding inside, move up so you can get a better view"

Maxim moved up, running around cover until he was 2 3rd's of the way to the ship, at which point, he hopped behind another piece of cover, still scanning the forest.

"Psycho, come with me to the door's, the rest of you, get ready". Aya and Harold moved to either side of the blue field door, everyone else got into cover, training the weapons on the door.

"3... 2... 1... Breach" Harold called, Aya passed her arm through the door, removing the field "Holy mother" Inside there was 6 Muton and an 'Outsider' (as the captains of the ships were called)

Aya swung in, pumping a shell into a Muton, severely wounding it. Keith pumped in a laser, finishing it off. Maxim took a shot, going clean through the Outsider's head, and it fell apart into the crystal it turns into when it dies. Masambe noticed 3 of them grouping up around a console "Vahlen's gonna be pissed", he took out the rocket launcher from his back, and fired, destroying the console, and severely wounding all the aliens, Harold took out a grenade, an alien one they had taken from a Muton earlier, and threw it in as well, it detonated a few seconds later, finishing off the aliens. "Smoke out!" Joe shouted as he threw a smoke grenade near to the door. Covering everyone but Maxim, who was too far back, in a pinkish smoke. The last 2 aliens got to their cover, one fired a shot at Maxim, but it hit the metal he was ducking behind. The other, however, saw Aya and Harold being a bit too close together, and threw a grenade, it landed directly between them, and detonated. They both flinched back as the force of the blast took out the weakened wall, Maxim couldn't see the rest of the result because of the smoke. But he heard the boom as Aya and Harold moved forward and killed the Mutons with their shotguns. A few seconds later the smoke cleared, and Maxim was about to ask if they were alright, as he could see them crouching behind a console on the other side of the ship, but, before he could ask, he heard a loud buzzing sound from above, and looked up to see 3 Floaters coming over the ship, he quickly flicked his rifle up, and shot one right in the chest, nocking it to the ground, and killing it "FLOATERS" he shouted into the com. Masambe looked up, and sprayed another with his machine-laser, peppering it full of holes, dropping that too. Joe and Keith went to take shots, but it quickly zipped away out of sight behind the ship. They stayed where they were for a few seconds, tense, waiting for it to drop back down on them, until they heard a shout of pain from within the ship. Maxim moved his rifle down in time to see the Floater blown away by Aya's shotgun.

"All contacts down, you're clear" Bradford's voice sounded over the coms, confirming that the floaters were the last of the crew. Maxim got up, and jogged in. And he saw Harold, leaning against the console pulling a piece of metal out of his leg "SCOTCH! SMOKES!" Maxim shouted, seeing how injured he was. Smokes got there first (He was incredibly fast when he could run straight out), and got out his spray, treating the burn on Harold's chest. Keith arrived a few seconds later, and began treating Harold's other injuries, namely the massive cut in his leg from the piece of metal. Maxim realized he hadn't see Aya, and looked around. He spotted her, walking around the ship, stomping on the Muton's heads (She did that with all Mutons after the one incident when they were dragging one back to the ship), she appeared to be fine, her armour had absorbed the majority of the blast, and the Floater had only hit Harold with it's plasma gun, she had a few cuts on her, but nothing major, probably only a few days in the infirmary to make sure they didn't get infected. Maxim walked over to her. And shot another one in the head with the plasma device she had given him, it's head disappeared in a green flash. She looked up at him, nodded, and stomped on the last one's head. Maxim heard a grunt, and turned around, Joe and Keith were helping Harold to his feet, and they were walking back to the ship, the bleeding had stopped, but Maxim knew that he would still need serious treatment for that, if the Floater had hit even an inch higher it could have destroyed his neck. Maxim shook his head to clear away the morbid thoughts, and set about dragging the bodies back with Masambe and Aya.

* * *

 **"Why were** there so many Mutons?" Maxim asked as he and Masambe dragged back the floaters, Masambe had one on either shoulder, while Maxim dragged the 3rd behind him

"Probably wanted to have an elite guard or something" Masambe grunted

"Do you think Boomer will be alright" Maxim asked, using Harold's call sign (As they were all supposed to do in the field)

"He'll be fine. Probably going to need like 2 month's off though" Masambe replied, still hefting the Floaters

"I heard you went toe-to-toe with a Muton" Maxim said, changing the subject

"Oh, that, yeah, that was intense"

"How'd you manage that?"

"I was a boxer for a few years before I joined the military"

"But still... Muton's are... Well, they're huge"

"Yeah, they're stronger than me, but I'm faster than them. And speed is more important than strength"

"I suppose"

"I know. You can be as strong as you like, but you can't kill what you can't hit. Who told you about it anyway?"

"Spray. As soon as you got back he ran over and told me"

"He exaggerated it"

"What do you mean?"

"He said I went toe-to-toe with one right?"

"Yeah"

"It's not strictly true. I did punch it, but then I ducked around and kept behind it, it was swinging wildly at me, so I just kept back, then lashed it... I think I nearly dislocated a finger on the first punch though"

"Oh... I prefer Kar-... Spray's version better"

"Of course you do. Everyone loves a good exaggeration"

"I guess"

"History is written by the victors Maxim. When we win this, I wouldn't be surprised if, after I'm gone, the story get's exaggerated further, until I went toe-to-toe with 5 Muton's at once, only ever fought with my fists, and could kill a Muton in a single hit"

"Sounds a bit pretentious"

"I'm not saying I could, I'm saying people love to exaggerate stories. All of us would probably get one like that. You could nail any alien between the eye from 2 miles away, and never missed a single shot. Aya once took a plasma shot directly to the face, and laughed it off. Whenever any of us do anything impressive, it will become legends eventually"

"Sounds cool"

"Ah, but then you realize you could never live up to that"

"What?"

"If people believe I can go toe-to-toe with 5 Muton's, and fight with my fists, yes I would be a legend, but, if I were to be killed by a luck shot from a Sectoid, I would become a cautionary tale, don't bring a sword to a gun-fight kind of deal"

"That wouldn't happen"

"It would. History needs it's heroes. But it also needs it's cautionary tales. Don't be too quick to try and make a name for yourself"

Maxim was lost in thought

"Ah, forget about that. I tend to get lost in thought. Come on, let's get back to HQ so Rebecca can sort out Boomer out

* * *

 **Sorry this one took a bit longer to come out. My charger decided to break and I had to get a new one.**

 **Thanks for reading, and for sticking with the story so far.**


	9. Chapter 9: Playing Games

**"Rebecca, we've** got another patient for you" Keith called as he and Joe helped Harold into the med bay, Maxim following behind to see how he was doing.

Rebecca was standing beside a bed, which was already prepped with IV's and equipment of all kinds that Maxim couldn't even begin to recognise "Bradford told me over the coms" she explained

The 2 field medics helped the wounded Sargent onto the bed, they had removed his armour during the trip back, the kits were starting to wear off, so blood was beginning to ooze from the wounds over his legs (the wounds on his chest being caused by a plasma bolt, so were already cauterised), as the clotting agent wore off.

Rebecca looked over the bed and saw Maxim and the others standing there "Excuse us please, we will need room"

"Oh, uh, yeah" Maxim replied, looking sheepish "Keep us updated?"

"Of course, now shoo"

Maxim trotted off back to his room, he would be fine, he had the best doctor in her field working on him, as well as Keith and Joe.

As he was walking back to his room he bumped into Karl, who had been running up the corridor, Maxim had been lost in thought and hadn't noticed.

"Woah, Max, what's goin' on. Why's everyone run to the med bay?"

"Harold, the new guy, he got injured, bad. Genade and plasma"

"Ouch"

"Yeah"

"How bad is it?"

"It looks pretty bad, if Rebecca and Keith weren't there I would be worried"

"No-one dies without Rebecca's say so"

Maxim chuckled at that, she was really nice, but you didn't want to piss her off. Karl had once spray painted something, Maxim never actually saw what it was, on one of the walls, she had gone ballistic, shouting cursing, threats... Maxim had been worried she was literally going to rip his head off with her bare hands (One of her threats, minus about 10 swear words).

"As long as Harold don't piss her off, he'll be fine" Karl said again "Come on, let's go play COD"

"You suck at COD"

Karl shrugged "Still fun though"

Maxim chuckled again "Alright. Let's go"

* * *

 **"You're right,** I do suck" Karl said as he died, yet again

"Wanna play something else?"

"Nah"

"Why are you playing it when you suck so much? How is that fun, it'd just frustrate the hell out of me"

"Heh, I like it. It really shows the futility of life, and the ease at which it can be taken away, just like that" Karl paused for about a 10th of a second before he burst out laughing "I don't know man, I just like it"

"You're a strange man Karl"

"Never claimed otherwi-... Holy mother of fuck"

"What!" Maxim jerked back to the game, thinking something had happened

"I got a kill!"

"Jesus, I thought you the game had broken"

"I think it has. I got a kill!"

"You're such a noob"

"That about sums me up- Aw, I was on a streak" Karl had rounded a corner, and ran right over a mine

"How were you on a streak?"

"I, sir, had a kill" pretending to look offended

"That's not a streak"

"It is for me, it's almost a new record"

"Noob"

"Why do you just keep spouting facts at me?"

Maxim laughed and got back into the game

"Operatives Maxim Popov, Karl Wagner, Keith Taylor, Ryo Goto, Aya Haidar, and William Ward, please report to the hangar"

"Aw, I had almost set a new personal best" Karl moaned as he put his controller down

"You had 2 kills"

"Precisely. One more, and it would a been a personal best" he said with a flourish as he left the room

"Let's hope you shoot better in the real thing"

"If you shoot half as well as you do in the game, I won't have to"

Maxim stopped halfway out the door as he realized the names that had been called

"What ya doing Max?"

"They called Ryo"

"Aw crap"

"Aw crap indeed" Maxim responded "How shall we deal with him today, do what he says, or the opposite of what he says?"

"Let's try ignoring 'im"

"Sounds great, Plan C is always a good plan"

"Unless he shouts that we're about to get shot and we ignore him"

"Alright, Plan C addendum, Ignore Ryo, unless it's directly related to the combat scenario"

"Sounds good to me"

They walked off to the hangar to head to the mission, feeling a little happy with their new plan

* * *

 **"The aliens** are goin' full on terrorist" Karl exclaimed as he read the briefing

"It would appear they are" Ryo sneered "You are a very slow reader you know"

"Max did you hear something?" Karl looked around like he'd heard a strange noise

"Probably the ship powering up" Maxim smiled to himself

"Ah, that makes sense"

"Hey, what are you doing?" Ryo demanded

"It would appear they are ignoring you" Aya explained, locking her pistol to her thigh and picking up her shotgun (Now available in laser) "And it would probably be best to ignore their ignoring of you"

"Like fuck am I going to ignore it"

"Then you will get into a pointless argument where they will not respond. It would be like shouting at a wall. If they've decided to ignore you, they'll ignore you unless you actually go to hit them" Keith said, as he locked his rifle onto his back and picked up his helmet

"Then I'll hit them" Ryo took a threatening step towards the Karl and Maxim, who didn't move in the slightest (they'd discussed on the way over that he wouldn't actually be able to hit them, William would tell him not to, and Aya would kick his ass if he did)

"You will not" As if on queue the grenadier and team leader walked around a corner, his bulky armour, LMG (Laser as well... Maxim wondered what LMG actually stood for. Laser Machine Gun? But it was called an LMG before it was laser), and rocket launcher already on, and carrying a helmet under one arm (All of them had helmets except for Maxim, who was far enough back that the restriction to visibility wouldn't be worth the protection, and Ryo, he just never wore his, something about messing up his sense of smell and hearing, Maxim rarely paid attention when Ryo spoke)

Ryo growled and took a step back "You better watch your back"

"I think I got somethin' in ma ear, I keep hearin' things" Karl said, swivelling a finger in his ear (he took the gauntlet off first)

Maxim had to turn away so he didn't laugh

"You two are really immature" Aya said as she walked past, Maxim thought he could see a faint smile on her lips, but it was probably his imagination, or a trick of the light or something, Aya didn't smile.

"So. Where are we goin'" Karl asked when they were on the sky ranger (which still had the design of a shark mouth on it, either Dr. Shen hadn't noticed, was beyond caring, or, possibly, actually liked it?)

"Did you not read the report?" Ryo shout-asked

Karl looked at the others, ignoring Ryo

"Oh for the love of-" Ryo was interrupted by William

"We are going to a bridge in Japan, I won't bother telling you the name, you won't care or remember anyway"

"Are we taking Xeno home?" Maxim asked

"I'll take you home you mother-"

"Enough" William interrupted "Vampire, you can ignore him if you wish, but do not insult him, we don't need the tension right now"

"Sorry" Maxim muttered sheepishly, shifting he arm (He'd been keeping the plasma pistol hidden from Ryo, since he was certain he'd report him to Shen or Vahlen immediately)

"You fucking better be" Ryo retorted

"I said enough" William never raised his voice, but everyone knew by his tone to shut up immediately

"Since we have quiet" William said "And since we will be pressed for time when we get there. I shall explain the tactics now, agreed?"

Everyone replied in affirmative (Ryo actually said affirmative, everyone else used of mix of yep, yes, sure, etc.)

"Well, for starters, Vampire will look for a good position to get as clear a view as possible"

"Gotcha" Maxim replied (It's easy being a sniper, no need to worry about specific orders)

"Xeno and I are the only one's with experience with explosives, so we shall have to be the ones to disarm the bomb, although Dr. Shen did say the nodes powering it should shut down after a good hit, it would still be preferable to allow one of us to do it if possible. So we shall split into 2 teams. Xeno, Psycho, and Scotch, on the right side of the bridge. Spray and I on the left with Vampire covering both sides" (William always made sure to keep Ryo, Karl and Maxim as far away from each other as possible) "If you see a node, alert either myself or Xeno, and we will disarm it, move up the bridge, the power readings are showing it will be ahead of out landing zone. Since this was a infiltration mission, we are likely to encounter multiple of the 'Thin men' variants, so keep spread out to discourage their poison spit"

"I really hate that poison" Keith muttered to himself

"You are not supposed to like it. It is poison" Aya replied

"If you do happen to get hit with the poison, don't panic, it lasts only a short time, and cannot kill you unless you suit has been severely damaged. If this is the case, call for Scotch and he will assist you. Although he only has enough for 3 doses, so we need to be as careful as possible"

"Why didn't we bring 2 medics then" Ryo said

"Because Mr. Smokes" (Oh, that sounded cool. Why did everyone else get cool names when Maxim was stuck with Vampire) "As you know, is currently occupied assisting his brother"

"He'd be fine for a few hours"

"But Mr. Smokes would still be worried about his brother, and would not be able to focus fully on the mission. The Commander takes a lot of time to choose who should go on missions. You would do well to not question it"

"Then why'd he put us and Ryo together?" Maxim thought, but didn't say it. That would be acknowledging Ryo was there, and they weren't doing that.

* * *

 **Sorry this one's a little shorter. I wanted to save the mission for the next part. As this is the last mission before the facility attack. I will have the next part up soon. Before the 7th of July, as I will be going on a trip, and wont be back until the following Friday (The 15th, not the 8th). Once I get back I will then have to actually play the mission as well, and then write it up. So part 11 will probably take a while longer than the others to get up, so I will make it longer, probably working like a 2-in-1 chapter, since the mission will be long anyways. As long as Maxim doesn't die in the foreseeable future this should carry on until the final mission (Here's hoping Maxim, Karl or Aya's a psionic... or even Ryo, that'd be fun). If Maxim dies I will probably have a first person scene of him dying, then, depending on how I feel about It, either have it end there, or carry it on from Karl's perspective, is he then dies, well, I think that'd be X-COM's way of telling me to stop. Anyway, I've waffled a bit here. Thanks for reading, and I hope you stick with me through this.**


	10. Chapter 10: Poison and Bombs

**As I said in the last part, there will be a while before the next part, as I am going on a trip, so the next part will not be up until, next Monday (18th July) at the earliest. Afterwards I'll actually be playing the levels before I write it up, so I can make notes about it. The description of the battles will get a lot more accurate, and probably more descriptive. I'll probably have the chapters longer as well, since I'll have more time to work on them as well, since the summer holidays are about to start. There will also be no more guarantees of life for the soldiers. So people may start dying, but let's hope nobody we like dies off too early, especially Maxim. If he dies, like I said earlier, I'll probably go for a 1st person scene of him dying, then either carry it on from Karl's perspective, since they're the most alike, or end it. I'm also hoping to get XCOM 2 soon as well, when I do, I'll probably do another of these from one of their perspectives. But, enough about the future, right now, we got some aliens to kill, and bombs to defuse.**

* * *

 **"Vampire, get** yourself in position" William said as they exited the skyranger onto a bridge. There were cars and trucks scattered around seemingly at random, probably a result of people legging it away when the aliens appeared. "Spray, we're taking the right. Psycho, Scotch, take the left. Xeno, you take the middle, help out whoever makes contact"

They all broke away from the ship, running to their position. Maxim took position behind an alien device, the Alien Boxes as Maxim called them. A truck blocked his sight of the right side, but there were no better positions nearby. "I'm in position, but the truck is blocking my sight to the right. Nothing in sight though"

"All right. Xeno, you stick to the right for now then" William replied. Xeno nodded, and vaulted the concrete blocks separating the lanes, taking position beside another car, not that he was actually there of course. Who was this Xeno William was talking to?

"Contact, Thin Men" William called, followed by a loud whirr as he fired at it, Maxim couldn't see the result because of the truck. Karl then also popped up from behind the car, and fired a few rounds, Maxim could see a greenish cloud spill from around the truck, so guessed he'd killed it. Ryo whipped up a pistol and fired, again, Maxim had no idea if he'd killed it, but, going by the lack of return fire, assumed he'd killed it. Maxim shook his head and looked away from the right onto his side, just in time to see a group of thin men run out from behind a car "Contact left" Maxim called as he took a shot, the laser beam shot out, and the thin man dropped, the gas cloud covering the other 2, they didn't seem affected by it, that's annoying. Keith leaned around the truck, and pumped a laser at one of them, just as it got into cover, the alien just managed to duck under the car before he fired. Aya was suddenly right next to it, he had no idea how she did that, but she seemed to be able to move incredibly fast sometimes, standing just a few feet away from it, in cover behind another car right next to it, and pumping a laser shotgun into it's surprised face, which then disappeared in a flash of light, the gas still spewed out of it, Maxim didn't know where the gas came out of, he had some ideas, but wasn't sure he wanted to know for sure, he liked his imaginary version of where it came from, and didn't want Vahlen ruining it with 'facts'.

Maxim heard coughing, and glanced to the right side, William and Karl were running out of a greenish gas cloud. Apparently the Thin Man he'd lost sight of had done some gassing, the Thin Men were easily the grossest aliens they'd met, he really hoped they didn't meet anything grosser. There was the regular buzzing sound of a laser weapon as Xeno finished off the alien. "The bombs about to go off" Dr. Shen said over the com.

"Get to the nodes, quick" William shouted, as he changed direction, and ran to one of the nodes, crouching down, he looked at it, then, just punched it. Maxim saw the light die down. "You've saved yourself some time, but you might want to get a move on" Dr. Shen said

"Are you two alright?" Keith asked as he too got to a node and disabled it with a kick

"We're fine, the suits are cancelling it out" Karl replied, moving up behind a car, keeping Xeno and William cover as they deactivated another node

"I'm moving up" Maxim said, running over to the truck, he looked around, and saw a ladder on the side. Seriously? Why is there a-. No, not this time, ignore the ladder. It's Japan, maybe they have ladders on their trucks here, he leaned around the side. Karl ran up to a car, and Maxim saw an alien pop it's head up from a concrete divider up ahead, he took aim, but the angle wasn't right, and the alien ducked back down "Aya, aliens on your side"

"Got it" Aya called. He saw a flash of red, and the alien came flying over the barrier.

"I think I can make out the bomb up ahead guys" Maxim said as he looked through his scope, he could make out a strange column-like shape up ahead, which Shen had said the bomb would probably look like. "I'm moving up" and he jumped the barrier, and went over to the ladder, that is defiantly supposed to be there in this country, climbed up, and positioned himself behind the overhang of the drivers compartment, using it as cover, and resting the rifle on it.

"See anything?" William asked

"No aliens, but the bomb looks ready to blow, and there's another truck that's blocking my view on the left" William answered

"Keep getting those nodes" William said, Maxim couldn't see what they were doing, he was too busy scanning the area ahead in case an alien popped it's head out.

"Contacts" Ryo called as he spotted a group behind a truck, firing a pistol into them, one fell, the gas escaping and clouding Maxim's view for a second, but another one ran out from it, and Maxim took a shot, drilling it through the head, making the gas cloud even bigger, the gas was about 2 inches from going up Ryo's nose. He heard other shots, but couldn't see them, the alien had ran out of his sight, there was nowhere else the aliens could hide up ahead, but they had dropped down from nowhere before, so he kept an eye on the cabling of the bridge up above. He heard a shout of pain, please be Ryo, please be Ryo. Followed by the sound of a laser weapon firing, and the screech of an alien getting dead.

"All contacts down, get to that bomb" Central called over the coms.

"Who's hit?" Keith called.

"Me" William called "It's just a flesh wound though, the armour stopped most of it"

"I've got you" Keith said

"Xeno, get to the bomb" William said "Everyone else, get into position, they're likely to send re-enforcements"

Maxim say Ryo run over to the bomb, and begin fiddling with it. He saw a couple of the others come into view around Ryo, providing guard.

"Eyes up folks, re-enforcements incoming" Central called

"Maxim heard a thump, and looked to his right, a Thin Man had dropped down on the ground nearby, he quickly swivelled around, and pumped a laser into it. It connected with the alien, and it dropped. He heard a few others firing and several screeches, the others were doing well too.

"Bomb defused" Ryo said as he stood up.

"We should begin moving back" William called "Keep your eyes open. Vampire, stay up there, if an alien goes for the bomb, kill it"

"Gotcha" Maxim said, keeping his eyes forwards as the others began jogging back to the skyranger.

He heard a slight noise, and, without thinking, he looked up, swinging the gun with him, he glanced a figure on the cables, and fired, a gas cloud appeared, and the figure dropped landing on the ground with a heavy thump, "Woah" Karl shouted "That was close. Nice shot Ma- Vamp"

"Sorry" Maxim called

"That's fine man, that was an awesome shot, and these guys don't weigh- Shit!" Karl interrupted himself with a laser shot, as another alien dropped from the cables a few feet in front of him, the shot killed it, but Karl was engulfed in the smoke "Fucking smoke", he jumped back out of it "I hate that shit"

"All hostiles down, nice job" Central called

The voice of the Commander came over the coms "The bomb's too heavy and big for the skyranger, we've dispatched another team to collect it, you won't need body collection today, just stay there until they arrive"

"Affirmative Commander" Ryo said

"Everyone, get yourself a good position. If more aliens arrive we'll have to deal with them" William called

"They rarely send more re-enforcements after a few minutes" Keith said "But it is better to be safe"

"Uh, doc, could I have a little help, I just got a lungful of that aliens gas shit"

"Oh yes" Keith jogged over and injected him with one of his thing-a-ma-bobs "This will neutralise it. But it will still have caused damage, and it may take a few days to heal fully"

"Standard stuff then?" Karl asked

"Of course" Keith said

"This bomb is impressive" William said, Maxim could see him standing next to the bomb, examining it.

"What's so great about it?" Maxim asked

"Well, it's powered by plasma, the same stuff they use in their guns. At a quick examination, it looks like this bomb could collapse this entire bridge if it went off"

"Dude" Karl said "That's a bomb"

"Good thing it did not go off then" Aya said, looking at it, leaning against a car.

"Wait a second, I forgot to tell you guys something" The Commander said over the coms

"What is it?" William asked

"We have found a location of the alien base, and are working on a key to get us into it. Once you get back, and heal up from any injuries, we'll be raiding it"

"Raiding an alien base?" Karl said "Sounds awesome"

"Just wanted to give you guys a heads up, since you have time to kill" The Commander said "I'll give you a proper briefing before the mission, but theres likely to be heavy resistance in there. Oh, and Maxim"

"Yes Commander?"

"Dr. Shen wants to speak to you"

"What about?"

"It's a surprise"

Crap, shit, motherfucking, donkey balls... Dozens of curses went through Maxim's head, as he imagined all the things Shen was going to do to him... Then he imagined what would happen if he'd told Vahlen, and nearly passed out.

* * *

 **The next part will include a bit of free time, and the alien base assault, and maybe a bit afterwards. It will probably be considerably longer than the others parts, they're usually around 2,000, next part will probably be something around 5,000+, and a lot more descriptive of what's happening. If Maxim ever get's mind controlled I'll have to figure out how I want that to work. Anyway, thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy what's coming next.**


	11. Chapter 11: Name too long

**I couldn't fit it in the word count. But the title of this chapter is:** Chapter 11: All your base are belong to us

 **No more guarantees anymore. Characters may begin to die now. I will, of course, try to avoid it. But I am going to accept it. I'm not on Ironman, so I could just go, no, they didn't die. But I won't do that unless it was something really stupid. Like a car blew up, but didn't have any animations of fire to show me it would explode. If the character dies because I did something stupid, I will keep it. Fingers crossed it's someone we don't like. Also, I unlocked psionics after this part. If Maxim gets it, I will have so much fun with it. What goes on in their minds (they seem to be a bit nuts when they use the powers). If Maxim doesn't, Aya or Karl would be fun as well... Ryo could be fun too. I played the level, making notes on what happened, so this will be more realistic as to the actual game. I won't have every mission written up. There'd be so many chapters. I'll probably just do it if something different happens (someone dies, someone does something badass, etc.). And I'll have all the council missions as well, since they always have something fun. I'll be keeping it more accurate to the missions, but I will, of course take liberties with it, some of which just must be done to make it real time rather than turn based, others I will just do for flavour, like wrestling with a Muton when they miss a shot at melee range, or stabbing one with a nearby pointy object when they kill it at melee range.** **Anyway, I should probably stop babbling on at the beginnings or end of the chapters like this, but, fuck it. I like doing it, and if some of you don't like reading them, you can just skip them.**

* * *

 **"Oh crap** , oh crap, oh crap" Maxim repeated the curse in his head all the way back to base. He'd given Aya the plasma pistol, so he could deny having it, but it probably wouldn't work. He was a bad liar, and he knew it. But he had to try something. Right?

The half an hour ride back to base was one of the worst moments of his life. Even worse than his first mission. That was surprising. Apparently he's more afraid of Shen and Vahlen than the aliens.

Once they got back to base they went to their regular places. William and Ryo went to the gym. Aya and Keith went to the bar. Karl and Maxim normally went back to the room to play games, but Maxim had to go talk to Shen. "What'd ya think Shen wants to talk to ya about? That plasma thing Aya gave ya?"

"I can't think of anything else. Come with me?"

"No way man. I'm not facing Shen and Vahlen"

"Aw come on man"

"No way. I'll help carry your coffin though"

"Gee thanks"

"No problem. If you survive, I'll be in the bar"

Karl headed off in the direction of the bar. And Maxim turned, and walked off to Engineering. His heart thudding in his chest.

* * *

 **"Maxim, there** you are. Stand over there please" Dr. Shen said as he saw Maxim walk through the door. Motioning towards an empty area, which Maxim recognised as the area they used for testing new equipment, he'd been there to test out the laser sniper rifle when he'd gotten it, and promptly went from terrified, to shitting himself in a millisecond.

Dr. Shen approached him, with his trade-mark data pad in hand. "I understand you've been keeping something from me" not looking up from the data pad. Maxim briefly wondered what he had on it that was so interesting, but that thought was yanked from his head as he heard Shen speak

"I, uh, I, I, don't know what you're talking about" Maxim lied

"You're a very bad liar" Shen said, still looking at the pad. He tapped something on the screen, and turned it so he could see. It had security footage from inside the sky ranger, showing Maxim with the plasma pistol on his wrist.

"Oh crap"

"There's no need to swear" Shen put the data pad down "If you want to do anything like that again. Just tell me first"

"I'm really sorry, please don't... Wait, what?"

"Hasn't the Commander told you. Our biggest priority is the lives of our soldiers. If you'd managed to keep a Plasma Weapon in one piece, and wanted to use it, you could have simply brought it here, we would have done some non-invasive investigations on it, then given it back to you undamaged"

Maxim was too stunned to speak

"Now, on to the reason I asked for you to be here"

"Wait. That's not why"

"No, not really, I just wanted to get that out of the way while you were here. Oh, but one thing. The Commander asked that, if you don't go on a mission, but Ryo does, you give it to Ryo for the duration of the mission"

"Why?"

"Because Ryo uses his pistol very often during the mission, so the extra power of the plasma weapon will help the operations tremendously"

"Oh, uh, right. O.K"

"Excellent. Now. If you'd follow me, I have something I'd like to show you" Shen turned, and began walking off, heading towards the door leading to the armoury.

Maxim followed, relieved beyond words that Shen wasn't mad about the plasma pistol. Although having to share it with Ryo wasn't going to be fun.

In the room, on a stand near the door, Maxim saw a suit of armour. It looked similar to his current suit, but looked lighter, and had some kind of device on it's left wrist.

"This" Shen said, motioning towards the armour "Is the Skeleton Suit. The Commander wanted you to have it. But first. We need to test it out"

* * *

 **"Oh shit!"** Maxim attempted to shout, but his stomach collided with the pipe before he was able to utter the first word.

"You need to control the speed of the retraction" Shen's voice came over his com piece. Maxim was currently clinging to a pipe, high above the testing area in Engineering. He was in the process of learning to use the 'Skeleton Suit' they'd made. Apparently there were servo's built into the suit to enhance the wearers movement and flexibility, they were simple enough to use, since they activated automatically when he moved, it just took a few minutes of running around to get used to. The grappling hook however, was a whole other matter entirely. He had been trying to use it right for about half an hour, and had only achieved in denting several pipes, about a dozen new bruises on his chest and stomach, and winding himself a good 15 times.

"How do I do that?" Maxim asked, wheezing the words out past what felt like a bruised lung.

"The speed is controlled by how much you clench your fist when to you draw it in"

"I'll keep that in mind" Maxim turned around, and dropped from the pipe. For the first 10 minutes, it had taken a tremendous amount of effort to force himself to drop from the pipe, but it became a lot easier after slamming into the pipes. He dropped to the ground, landing on his feet, his knees bending only slightly, as his leg armour absorbed the impact of the 2 storey drop. At least that didn't take any control.

"Again" Shen demanded, pointing to another pipe.

"It's going to be a long day" Maxim thought, as he fired the grappling hook at the pipe.

* * *

 **"I heard** you spent 2 hours slamming into pipes in Engineering" Aya said as Maxim entered the bar. Karl and Scotch were there as well, although they were on the other side of the bar. Maxim didn't know why, but, apparently, Aya ran the bar.

"Could you, get me, a, drink?" Maxim asked between breaths, he felt like he had a punctured lung or two.

"Soda?" Aya asked, grabbing a glass

"I feel like, I should want, something, alcoholic. But, I don't, like alcohol"

"That's because you've never tried it" Karl said over his beer

"I've, tried it, didn't, like it"

"You gotta try it a buncha times before you actually like it"

"That's what, everyone says, I can't be, bothered to, do that. I'll stick, to soda" Maxim sat down at the seat Aya had placed the drink in front of, no lemon, ice, straw. Maxim was beginning to realize why she ran the bar. She has an amazing memory for drinks.

"How's the torso?" Keith asked

"Purple mostly"

"I'll have a look at it in a bit. I know some things to help"

"Thanks"

"How's the grappling hook skills progressing?" Karl asked

"Alright. I've been able to, slow down enough, that it, just hurts, doesn't bruise"

"Another few hours of training and you'll be fine" Aya said, hopping over the bar and sitting down with a drink of her own, there wasn't a chair on the other side.

"I don't think my ribs can take any more punishment"

"Wait a minute. You're alive. Shen didn't kill you for the plasma pistol thing"

"Yeah. Apparently he, didn't mind, he just wanted to do some, non-invasive investigations, and he wanted me to, let Ryo use it, if I'm not, on the mission"

"That's gunna suck" Karl said

"Yeah... I hope the Commander, gives it a few days, before we attack the base. My ribs need to, heal"

"He will" Aya said.

"What do you, think it will, be like in there" Maxim asked

"Probably a lot of aliens" Aya said

"We'll probably find out what the aliens have been doing with the people the abduct" Keith answered

"I imagine, green, and platformy" Karl answered

"Why?" Maxim asked

"I don't know. Just seems alieny"

"You aren't very good with adjectives are you?" Keith asked

"I'm not good at language in general" Karl laughed

* * *

 **2 Days** later.

"Operatives Masambe Digkale, Aya Haidar, William Ward, Karl Wagner, Maxim Popov, and Keith Taylor, report to the hangar"

"Everything is pain" Maxim groaned as he dragged himself out of bed, his chest and stomach were a purplish colour, but had gone down quite bit. He'd have to thank Keith for his remedies, as much as he liked to moan, it didn't hurt much, and once he was in the armour, the stimulants in it would dull it down, and with the adrenaline as well, he wouldn't even feel them, besides, they'd be the least of his worries.

Maxim got up, and made his way to the armoury to get his armour, the Skeleton Suit was amazing, it was even lighter than the carapace armour, but, he still wasn't fully used to it, and with the servo's, it felt like he was jogging when he was walking. He had the grappling hook on his left wrist, the plasma pistol on his right wrist, and his sniper rifle on his back. He felt like a badass. All he needed now was some facial scars and he'd be set... But he was fine not having facial scars, his leg scar was plenty.

"Hey Max. That looks awesome" Karl remarked as Maxim walked in. How was he always the last one to arrive?

"Thanks. Still not used to these servo's though, I feel like I'm running when I'm walking"

"You'll get used to it in the field" William said "Everyone learns faster in action. Now come one. We've got a base to raid"

"We're in your base, killing your dudes" Karl and Maxim said, at virtually the same time.

"What was that?" Masambe asked

"It's a meme. Long story. I'll explain it later" Maxim said as they got in the skyranger.

"Stand back, I'm placing the charges" William called. They were somewhere in the Mojave desert. For some reason, there was a pool in the desert. They were a few hundred meters from said pool. William was placing C4 charges in a square of a seemingly random part of the desert, but they'd done scans, and found this was the best place to break into it. The plan was to set of the charges, blow a hole through the roof, then drop down with ropes attached to the skyranger, or, in Maxim's case, just drop straight down.

The rest of the team moves back to stay clear of the detonation while their explosives expert set them up. William finished places them, and jogged over to the rest of them, taking a small device out of his pocket, opened the case, and flipped the switch. The explosives detonated. Maxim's helmet automatically dulled it's audio receptors, so the explosion wasn't deafening. The others clipped the ropes to the belts, and they moved towards the hole. Maxim looked it. But it was too Smokey to see the bottom.

"Once more unto the breach" Masambe said

Maxim took a breath, and dropped into the hole.

The fall was mercifully short, he landed on his feet, but didn't land properly, so fell to his hands and knees, before standing back up. He looked around. The others were lowering down on the ropes. There were about half a dozen tanks in sight, each of which was filled with some green goo, and a figure vaguely visible in the goo.

"God only knows what they're doing to these people... All the more reason to blow them to hell" Central said

The others dropped down to the ground, and unhooked the ropes. There were stairs leading up on either side of their position, and a platform leading to the end of the room. "Whirr, Psycho, Vampire, head to the left. Spray, Scotch, come with me" William ordered. They moved off to their positions.

"Crysalid's" Aya called. Maxim swung his sight around and fired, nailing one of the bug-things in the chest with a beam of light. But, oddly, the creature kept going, must have not hit something important, fucking redundant bug organs. There were more flashes, as Karl and Keith opened up with their rifles, the ones that Maxim had shot was dropped by a beam to the chest, another was dropped as it's head was dissolved to goo by a twin burst from Karl. William raised his LMG to fire, but a flash of light destroyed the last Crysalid's head and chest with a burst of light, before William was able to fire. Maxim lowered his rifle, and saw Aya. She had run all the way around the place, and pumped a shot into it. Maxim was always amazed at how fast she could move. Even with the Skeleton Suit's servo's helping him, he couldn't move like that.

"Nice job. Head to the doors and reload before breaching" William said, as he took up position on the side of the door on his side.

Maxim got a position with a view that would go through the door when they opened it, and opened the cell at the side of the gun, and slotted in another one. They were essentially really powerful batteries which powered the generator in the gun. When he looked up, Masambe and Aya were at the door, Aya was loading another cell into her gun, and Masambe held his gun in one hand, his other hand ready to open the purple and blue curtain of energy that passed for a door for the aliens.

Aya pumped her gun and nodded. Masambe passed his hand through the door. Maxim looked through his sights, and saw 2 floating, things, just inside the door. Aya brought up her shotgun and fired, but the beams of light didn't hit it, instead, there were dozens of burns scattered across the area nearby, Maxim guessed it was some of forcefield or something, he was about to put a 'bullet' in one, when Masambe raised his LMG and sprayed the area with light. The, things, dropped to the floor sparking. Now that they weren't moving, Maxim got a proper look at them and, he found a word to describe them, drones. They were some kind of robotic, floating drones. Shen would like a look at those afterwards.

"2 Sectoids" William called

Maxim turned, and pumped a laser into one as it attempted to duck into cover behind a console. Karl attempted to kill the other one, but only managed to rip a chunk out of the wall behind it. Keith leveled his rifle, and drilled a hole through the console and into the sectoid. Maxim turned back to his side, in time to see 3 Mutons stand up from behind some consoles, 2 ran to cover, 1 ran at them, it had no gun, but a wierd claw-like thing on it's gauntlet, and considerably more bulky armour. Maxim brought up his Sniper, and nailed a Muton in the head. A twin burst of light dropped the other one, as Karl ran on top of a platform on his side to get view of it. Masambe raised his LMG again, and fired a burst at the Clawed Muton. The beams punched into it's chest, but it didn't seem hurt, it just roared and continued running. Masambe tries to fire again, but he'd overheated the gun, and it wouldn't fire. Meanwhile, Aya leveled her Shotgun and fired, the light slammed into it's skull, a killing shot for anything they'd ever encountered. But it kept running, even though it's face was now a pulped ruin, it tried to roar again, but it came wet and garbled, like it was shouting through water. It brought up it's claw, and was about to punch it into Masambe's chest, but Aya pumped a round into it's arm, shearing the arm off at the elbow. The alien was still trying to punch at Masambe with it's stump of an arm, when Masambe slammed his gun into it's side. Nocking it to the side, and sending it tumbling down over the side of the platform. "That thing was tough" Aya said, taking the cell out of her gun, and throwing it down after the alien.

"Thanks" Masambe said, as he too took the cell out of his gun

"Advance to the doors, and reload" William called from across the room

They moved up to the door, taking their positions. Maxim took out his cell and inserted a new one. He looked to the side and saw the others doing the same.

Masambe ran his hand through the door, opening it up. There was one of those green tube things that apparently work as generators. A wall that looked to be stone blocked his view of the rest of the room.

They moved up, Maxim took position next to a metal thing, so he could see the room below them, he could also see another platform going up on either side. "Mutons!" Karl shouted, 2 beams of light shot past him, behind the wall, and he hard a growl of pain from a Muton. "More Mutons" William called, and he raised his LMG, firing at one of Mutons that had come into view on the other side, the shots pummelled into it's legs, it stumbled, fell down the stairs, but dragged itself to it's feet again. The other Muton ran down after it's friend, raising it's rifle to take a shot at Aya, who was running down another set of stairs towards it, it fired the balls of plasma, but Aya dropped, sliding down the last few steps to drop under the shots, rolling when she hits the ground, standing up as she got behind a metal box thing, bringing the shotgun up, and pumping it into it's chest. Maxim didn't see the result as he heard a shout of pain from William, and looked in time to see a ball of plasma shoot out of a small hole in the cliff wall, and strike him in the chest. He turned, and fired a shot, striking it in the head, and dropping it to the ground. He turned as he heard more shots, and saw another Muton run around the wall, dodging lasers fired by Keith. Maxim brought up his rifle, and dropped it. Maxim turned to the right, where the last Muton was, only to see that it was already dead. William limped to the middle of the platform and met up with Keith, who brought out one of the med-kits. Maxim reloaded, and moved to another position, so he could overlook the room better. "Rest up and, reload for a second" William said, as the med-kit helped his body heal, and sealed the damage in the armour. Maxim looked over as he was reloading, and saw some strange devices with human figures lying on them. Dr. Shen's voice came over the coms while he was looking at them "While you're waiting, would you mind getting me a closer look at those devices"

"One second" Maxim replied. Bringing up the grappling hook, and launching it at a console near the devices. He clenched his hand, not too hard, and the grappling hook retracted itself and Maxim was pulled across to the platform. Maxim got up, and looked into the device. There was some greenish, brownish goo and nothing else. He looked up, at the other one, which was a few feet further, and saw a vaguely human form in the device, surrounded by the same goo, the body seemed to be dripping into the goo.

"I would appear that these devices are, liquefying the abductees into a liquid substance, what purpose could this have" Dr. Vahlen's voice came over the coms

"Drones" Aya called from across the room. Maxim looked up, but couldn't see, there was some metal thing blocking his view. He ran around the devices, hearing the sounds of laser fire, and some strange buzzing noise. Maxim got around the metal thing, and brought up his plasma pistol, firing a plasma bolt into the closest one to him, the shot burned through it, leaving a hole through it, and dropping it to the ground. There was another flash, and the other one dropped, similarly destroyed.

"Head up to the doors, get into position, and reload" William called.

They formed up at the door, ejecting spent cells, and inserting new ones. Aya and Karl took point at the door. Masambe and William took places next to more of those weird metal devices that kept blocking his view. Maxim and Keith took up positions next to consoles. Aya put her arm through the door, opening it to reveal... An empty room.

"Form up again. According to the scans, this should be the final room in the facility" William said. They moved up, and took similar positions behind bits that popped out from the floor. Aya and Karl at either side of the door. Masambe and William at the closest cover. Keith and Maxim a bit further back.

Karl put his arm through the door, opening it. He and Aya advanced inside. "Clear" Aya called.

"Vampire, Spray, and Scotch, take the upper platform. Psycho, take the lower platform. Whirr, we'll take the floor" William said, and everyone began moving towards their positions. William and Masambe took positions by consoles, Karl and Keith began moving up the ramp to the upper platform, Maxim getting up with his grappling hook. Aya went down the stairs to the lower platform, taking cover behind a console.

"There's some weird thing shooting red light out the top of it" Aya called as she looked around. Maxim looked over, and saw the red light, but the device was hidden by the floor.

"What's that thing?" Karl asked from the console he was behind. Maxim moved over to see what he was asking about. And saw a weird metal disk on the floor, with strange, multi-coloured lights being projected from it. It seemed somewhat familiar to Maxim, though he couldn't place his finger on it.

"I know what that it but... I can't recall" Maxim said, staring at it, suddenly it clicked "I think that... An alien, game"

"Strange game" Karl remarked

"Is that what the aliens do for fun" Dr. Shen remarked "At least they're not, playing, computer games"

"Come on doc. Video games are awesome" Karl remarked

"Muton's!" Keith called. Maxim looked over, and could just about see the head of one over the console Keith was ducking behind

"Hold a second" William called. Maxim lowered his gun, he knew what was going to happen, and braced himself, he didn't know how well built the platform was. William fired a rocket, there was a loud boom, and roars of pain. It sounded like he hurt them, but he didn't kill them.

There was a loud whirr, and Maxim looked over the platform to see Masambe unloading his LMG into another one of the Claw-Muton's, the armour on it's chest was reduced to shreds, and Maxim could see the organs inside it's chest through the green-yellow blood of the creature, but it kept coming. Aya suddenly appeared behind it, and brought up the stun-gun thing they used to capture aliens, the blue electricity cracked into the thing, and Maxim could smell burned flesh, but still the creature was standing, it turned, and was bringing it's claw back to stab at Aya, who hoped back down the stairs she'd come from to avoid the claw, but didn't need to, as 2 beams of light shot through it's head, vaporising the things head. Even without a head it kept swinging at the air with it's claw arm, before it overbalanced itself and fell down the stairs, landing next to Aya, who kicked it over the edge, just to be safe.

Maxim remembered that there were Muton's, and ran over to Keith, brining up his plasma pistol, and firing at one while Keith fired at the other, Keith's shot burned into a console the Muton ran to, and Maxim's shot slammed into the Muton's chest, but failed to kill it.

"Floaters" Karl called from across the platform, Maxim moved him pistol to aim for the other Muton, who had it's head out of cover to take a shot, and put it down with a bolt to the skull, he then saw something out the corner of his eye and, acting on instinct, fired the grappling hook at it. He looked over, and saw the other Muton, with a grappling hook in it's chest. Maxim clenched his hand to draw it back, and the grappling hook pulled the Muton over the console, on to the floor, and retracting the grappling hook to it's housing bit. Maxim was about to move away to help out with the floaters, when he noticed something in the grappling hook, and looked, there was some strange, thing in it's claw. Makin opened the hook, and took it out, it was squishy, and... A heart, Maxim realized as he looked at the organ the hook had pulled out. He shuddered, and dropped the heart over the edge, wiping his hand on the console.

"Floaters and Muton's down" William reported "Reload and rest for a second, the leader of the aliens will be with that device up ahead"

"Whirr, take the right, see if you can't get around it, everyone else, head up, get some eyes on it" William continued.

The Commander's voice came over the coms "If possible, don't kill it, we could learn a lot from this thing"

Maxim ejected the cell, inserted new one, and moved up to the edge of the platform, taking cover behind another console, he looked over and saw a strange alien. It looked similar to a Sectoid, but was larger, and had a red tint to it's skin. "Found it" he called, bringing up his pistol, and shooting at it's head, the alien didn't move, but the plasma bolt didn't connect "Wait, what?" Maxim muttered to himself

Karl fired off his shots, which missed, but destroyed the console the alien had been behind. Keith brings up his pistol and fired, this time, the laser shot connected with the creatures leg, it let out a scream, but it's mouth didn't move. Maxim was looking at it, trying to clear his mind of the scream he'd heard within his head, when he saw it's eyes glow with a purple-blue glow, it was looking to the right and below him, and he heard the voice of Masambe over the coms "I see now", along with the whirr as his LMG warmed up to be fired. Maxim immediately could tell something wasn't right, he brought up his rifle, and fired a shot, the laser drove straight into the plasma pistol on the aliens arm, damaging it, and hurting the alien. Suddenly Aya was right next to the alien, she brought up the tazer, and fired, the blue lightning not even connecting with the alien, they were diverted mid-path, and connected with the ground.

"Fuck this" Karl said, and brought up his rifle, pumping to rounds at the aliens head, one reflected off an invisible field around it's head, the other went straight through the creatures head and it dropped to the floor.

* * *

 **5 minutes** later

"Ugh, that was.. Strange" Masambe said. He was leaning against a wall, a hand on his head (he'd taken his helmet off)

"What happened" Keith asked

"I, I don't know. The creature just looked at me, and, I believed the aliens were here to help us, and XCOM were the bad guys. I was about to shoot at you, Will, when they killed it, and I went back to normal"

"It appears the alien is able to use it's mind as a weapon, twisting the perceptions of it's enemies. A rather insidious form of mind control" Dr. Vahlen said "It would probably be for the best if you seized Mr Digkale's weaponry, there may be some residual power in his head"

"That would be safe" Aya agreed, and picked up Masambe's LMG, which he'd dropped once the alien was killed.

* * *

 **Our first brush with mind control. This is my perception of it, I like to think it's not a forceful way, at least not the way the aliens do it, the human psychic's will probably do a more forceful version, since manipulation perceptions would be more difficult. Around 5,000 words, about 2.5 chapters in one. Hopefully this makes up for a week with none, and if not, they'll be going up more often. I'm in a rather XCOM mood, and really want to play. So I'll be doing more missions more often, and I won't want to get too far ahead in the game.**


	12. Chapter 12: Training

**2 Weeks** later.

"Focus" Dr. Vahlen said "You need to focus or it won't work"

"Focus on what?" Maxim asked. He was in a circular room, lined with bare steel. There were re-enforced, one-way windows along the upper part of the wall, which Maxim knew had scientists observing, and monitoring the equipment, and his vitals. He'd been in this room, or one of the adjoining rooms, for 6 days now. And was going to be in here for at least a few more. He was being tested for Psionic powers, it sounded like something from science fiction, but, apparently humans could do that now. Well, some humans, anyway. They were testing to see if he had them, along with Aya and Karl, who were currently in one of the adjoining rooms, their bed rooms for the time being. The tests were very confusing, he still wasn't entirely sure what they were trying to get him to do, something about 'focusing his thoughts and emotions to cause confusion and mental damage to the target'. There was a captured Sectoid chained up on the other side of the room, and Maxim was supposed to hurt the thing with his mind. According to the mind of the Sectoid Commander they'd captured a few days ago, this was the easiest psionic power to master, and any further powers would manifest over time, and use of other powers.

"Anything, you just need something to focus your thoughts on. Just something with strong emotional context for you. A happy memory, a sad memory. Just something to focus your powers" Dr. Vahlen said, she was in the room above, speaking through a speaker. Apparently they didn't want to risk any personnel in the room, in case of 'Catastrophic overload of psionic powers', which Maxim assumed meant 'You explode your brain trying to explode the aliens brain', and that thought, as you could imagine, was making it hard to focus.

"Like what?"

"I don't know your memories. You need to find one yourself. A particularly good birthday for example. It doesn't even need to be that strong, it's just to allow you to focus"

"How do we even know I have these powers?"

"We don't"

"That's comforting"

"That's why we shall only continue for 4 more days. Afterwards, if none of you have exhibited any Psionic potential, The Commander will select 3 other soldiers who will undergo the training"

"And if one of us does?"

"Then they will undergo extra training, to allow them more control. And 3 others will undergo the training as well"

"Why?"

"Because we will want to have as many soldiers with Psionic powers as we can, they can be extremely useful when fighting the aliens"

"Alright... How do I do it again?"

There was an audible sigh over the coms, apparently Vahlen was getting frustrated. Understandable, Maxim was getting confused himself.

* * *

 **"Wait, let** me, no I can-" the voice came out of the speaker quietly, as if the person was further back from the mic.

The mic was quiet for a few minutes. Maxim went back to trying to do the thing, but couldn't call back any serious memory to 'focus his thoughts and emotions'.

"Maxim" The voice of The Commander came over the speaker "There's a friend of yours who thinks he can help you out"

"Hey Max" Karl's voice came over the speaker "I think I get what they've been goin' on about. It's not about anchoring a memory, It's about understanding how to use it. It's very confusing, but I got it now. It's a game"

"How is it a game-Quiet. Let him explain" Vahlen and The Commander appeared to have difference of opinion.

"It works like that game you showed me a few days before we went in here, I can't remember what the name is, I've got a blank, but that doesn't matter. Psionic's work just the like the magic-stuff in that. I can't do it, I've realized that. But, you might be able to"

It took him a few seconds to realize what he was talking about "That is just, wow"

"I know. Now kill that thing with your mind"

* * *

 **2 Days** later.

"This very strange... But kinda fun" Maxim said, as he used his powers to kill another Sectoid. He'd been practicing these powers for a couple days, and was getting very good at it. He could still only use the basic attack power, which causes damage to the target's mind, and disorientates them, if they survive. The damage was actually purely psychological, he just caused trauma to their mind, and, if the mind wasn't strong enough, it would kill them, if it was stronger, it would cause a physical weakness, as their mind tried to come to terms with what was damaging it. The disorientation was cause by him inserting a small amount of his perception into it's head, technically, allowing it to see through his eyes for a few seconds, but the mind would be unable to comprehend what it was seeing, so would merely suffer confusion. He had also learned a couple other things that he could do with the Psionics. If he focused, he could see through the re-enforced glass of the room he was in, to see the people behind, while doing this he could even look through clothes and skin, he could see the bones, veins, nerves, and muscle of his arm. Although he couldn't see through metal, or other substances with a similarly dense molecular structure, but glass, skin, plastic, etc. he could look straight through. It wouldn't be much use in combat, but it sure was fun.

"Well done Maxim" Dr. Vahlen's voice came over the speaker. Maxim looked up, and saw her standing there, through the reflective, bullet-proof glass. "You appear to have mastered the... What was It you called it?"

"Mindfray" Maxim smiled, he'd named it after the main hero of the game Karl had described which he used to focus himself, since the powers worked almost exactly like it did in that game

"Yes, Mindfray, you appear to have mastered it, and some side powers as well" No doubt referring to his x-ray vision, which they'd figured out he could do a few hours ago, while he kept following Vahlen with his head while she walked around the room while talking

"Well, Maxim, good news is, we only need to keep you here for a couple more days, just be to sure of course, before we will announce the news. The first human to develop psionic powers-" The Commander began, he had walked into the room while they'd been talking "Is a 23 year old, professional gamer from Birmingham, named Maxim Popov"

"Sounds a bit anti-climatic. You'd expect it to be a highly trained soldier, or some nut who'd been practicing for years"

"Now I'm not the only unexpectedly plain person here. Yipee" The Commander did a little jump and mock celebration. "Finally, after-" He looked at a computer screen "-8 months, 3 days, and 20, 8, hours. I'm not alone" He smiled "Sorry I can't stick around to watch you practice, but I have a _lot_ of work to do as Commander of X-COM"

Maxim chuckled "Any more tests today?"

"Not right now. Take a break for a few hours. Then we'll be trying you against a more powerful alien" Vahlen replied

"Sounds fun" The door leading to his 'room' opened, and Maxim walked in. It was a metal box with a bed on one side. Maxim wished he'd been able to bring his games console, but the room didn't have any plugs, so that wouldn't have helped anyway. He had one of his portable game devices, but it was out of charge, and he had the same problem that he had with the console, there were no plugs, and he wasn't allowed to meet any of the others face to face, just in case he accidently used his powers and exploded their heads. He'd put his time to good use though, he basically spent his time working out, something he could never be bothered to do normally, but, the only other thing he could do was practice his powers, and he couldn't use Mindfray here, and all he could do with his x-ray vision was watch his own body work, and, as interesting as that was, it got boring after a while. He'd built up a lot more muscle over the last 8 days.

* * *

 **3 days** later.

Maxim sat his room. This wasn't his 'room', it was actually his room. They let him out of the psionic training circle earlier today, and he'd spent the most of today catching up with the others. Neither Aya nor Karl had developed Psionic powers. While he'd been in the room, the engineering team had finished work on the Titan armour, a new suit of armour a lot tougher than any other suit of armour, that was fully sealed, so would protect them from any fire, or the poison spit of the thin men, unfortunately, Maxim wouldn't be getting one, he'd still be in the Skeleton Suit, but, if nothing went wrong, he'd never be in the line of fire anyways. They'd also made a couple S.H.I.V's, he didn't know what it stood for, but they were basically gun platforms on wheels, they had robots now. A group had saved a 'General Van Doorn', who was apparently same higher up on the council, that helped run the non-X-COM military against the aliens, to say thanks, he'd reassigned his bodyguard, Eva Solovyova, call sign 'Shield'. Maxim had talked to her for a bit, she was cool, a bit too serious though, but she was a cooler serious than Ryo, she didn't tell them to take it seriously, so she was alright. Other than that, not much had happened, no-one had died or been badly injured.

* * *

 **The best thing ever has happened. Maxim has Psionics. I'm so happy. I couldn't wait to write this part, I was too excited about how my version of Psionics would work, so we got 2 parts very quickly. I'm sure you won't mind getting more parts, and I want to play more, and don't want to end up too far ahead of the story. I don't know if Maxim will end up being the hero of the story, if someone else with more Will becomes a Psychic, they'll be the hero, just from a purely mechanical basis, but, I might still end up having him as the hero, just for story. But, Maxim will defiantly be on the final mission. Not sure whether to go for defensive or offensive powers for Maxim, It'll depend on how I'm feeling he's progressing in the story. Maxim, and anyone else who gets Psionics, will have their own little side powers, like Maxim's X-ray vision, they'll be little things that wouldn't influence any combat, but I'll give them all their own extra power(s). Maxim will probably develop more as well, again, not sure what, I like to see how things develop, it will also depend on how his powers are going in game as well, if he ends up not being very powerful, then I'm not going to go Mind Control, since it just wont be useful. I added in the 'it works like game', just to explain why Maxim is good at it, since normally, something like that would require focus and training, which Maxim doesn't have.**


	13. Chapter 13: Psionic's In Use

**"So, what** can you do?" Karl asked. They were in the bar, Aya was behind serving drinks, Keith was sitting with a scotch, Karl was next to him with his own drink, and the new girl, Eva, was sitting next to him with a drink as well, Maxim had been sitting with a drink, but had been forced to try and explain how the Psionics work to Keith, after butchering the explanation, Karl then asked his question.

"Well, I can do the, Mindfray thing, where I just hurt and disorientate them" Maxim answered

"Well we know that, anything else?"

"Vahlen said more powers would probably develop as time went on, but so far, I've only had one"

"Well. What is it?" Asked Eva.

"If I focus, I can, do a thing, I don't know how to explain how it works, because, I'm actually not sure myself. But, basically, I can, kinda see through some materials"

Eva began slowly moving her arms to cover her breasts

"I'm not doing it now"

"What can you see through?" Karl asked

"I'm not completely sure, I haven't tested it properly yet, I can see through skin, and... Other things. But I can't look through metal, or things like that"

"Can you control what you look through, or do you go full X-Ray" Karl asked again

"It takes me quite a bit of focus, but I can only see through what I like and-" he noticed Eva starting to look really uncomfortable "-and this is just making me seem like a creep isn't it"

"No, it's fine it's just. A bit, disconcerting to know you could... Do that" Eva replied, still looking uncomfortable

"If I really wanted to look at... Those. I have a computer" Maxim replied, he was starting to feel uncomfortable as well

"What's the problem with it?" Aya asked, hoping over the bar with her own drink "If he wanted to it's not like it's going to affect you in any way"

Eva looked at Aya with a strange expression

"She is a sociopath. She doesn't understand emotion very well" Keith explained

"I thought she was a psychopath" Karl replied

"They are difficult to define, but Sociopath sounds better, so I prefer to use it"

"Anyway. Sorry if I'm making your uncomfortable, I wish I'd not mentioned it" Maxim apologised

"No, it's fine, I'd rather know" she was still sat with her arms crossed over her chest "And, from what the others have said about you, and your file, you don't seem like the type to abuse that anyway"

"Wait. I have a file?" Maxim asked

"The Commander has files on all of you. He has to send them to the council so they know what you guys are up to. I read them before I came here, so I'd know who I'd be working with"

"The file didn't mention Aya's thing?" Karl asked

"Not in any detail"

"Anywa-" Keith began

"Would Operatives: Maxim Popov, William Ward, Aya Haidar, Masambe Digkale, Keith Taylor, and Karl Wagner, please report to the Hangar"

"Well, looks we go gotta go" Karl said, finishing his drink and getting up "Seeya later"

"Yeah, talk to you later" Eva replied, going back to her drink

"Again, sorry for making you uncomfortable" Maxim said as he got up

"No, it's fine, don't worry. Just head out and kill some aliens" Eva smiled

* * *

 **"Hey Max,** check it out" Karl walked into the hangar, with a new suit of armour, very similar to Maxim's, but coloured red instead of black. "I got a new suit"

"When did this happen?"

"While you were doing your training" Maxim had stayed in the training area for a few days longer to train some more

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"I wanted to make it a surprise. It's more fun this way"

"Did you re-pain the skyranger as well?"

"Yep. Big Crysalid head now. I figured it was more fitting than a shark"

"I can't believe Shen hasn't made you fix it"

"I think he likes it. He just doesn't want to admit it. So he's pretending he hasn't noticed it"

"Did anything else happen while I was busy that no-one told me about"

"Not that I can think of"

* * *

 **"Vampire, see** anything" William asked as they exited the Skyranger, emerging into the forest the ship had landed in. They always seemed to land in forests.

Maxim looked around, focusing his powers and engaging his X-Ray vision. He didn't have his helmet on this time. They'd done some tests, and something in the helmets disrupted his ability to focus his powers. He'd need to watch his head during this mission. His eyes took on a slight purple glow as his Psionic enhanced their vision. He scanned the area, the bushes and the tops of tree's becoming almost invisible to him. He looked around, he couldn't see any aliens, but they could be hiding behind trees or hills. He saw a shape in the distance, which he couldn't see through, it wasn't a plant, too long. He stopped focusing and his eye's return to normal. "Over there" he pointed with his rifle "Just over that hill"

"Excellent" William said "Everyone, move to the hill, stick together. Remember, this was a landing, not a crash, they may know we're here"

They began jogging towards the hill. Maxim and Karl began to outpace the others, the servo's in their armour allowing them to out-run the others with ease.

"Muton's" Karl called. he took cover behind a fallen tree, and bringing up his rifle to take a shot as it dropped behind a tree, skimming the edge of the tree, Maxim dropping down next to him.

"More of them" Maxim called, as 3 more Muton's showed up on the other side of the hill "Oh crap". 2 Thin men also appeared, dropping down from tree's.

"Grouping" William called, brining his rocket up, firing at the Muton's on the left that Karl had spotted. Destroying the rock's they were hiding behind, killing one, and badly hurting the others.

Suddenly, Aya appeared on the right side, taking cover behind a tree, and firing at one of the Muton's, which immediately turned and ran off.

Maxim got up, and fired at the Muton Karl had driven into cover, his shot missed his initial target, but struck another Muton as it ran past into it's own cover, striking straight into the gun. "Nice" Karl said, as he vaulted the log, and ran to another tree to get a better angle, and fired at the one Aya had scared off as it was running back to a rock outcrop, 2 shots struck the alien, one hitting the back of the knee, making it stumble, and the other shot drove straight into it's skull as it fell over.

The rest of the squad were moving up, taking cover behind the log Maxim was behind, and another one behind him.

One of the Muton's on the left side ran off, Maxim tried to take a shot, but it had already disappeared behind some rocks. One of the Thin Men raised it's pistol and took a shot, but the plasma bolt struck the tree Aya was behind.

The other Muton's began moving forward, Karl took a pot shot, but the Muton ducked under the laser. One of the Muton's tried to take a shot, but the weapon didn't fire. Maxim realized it was the Muton Maxim had hit in the gun.

Aya sprinted over, and pumped a shell into one of the Muton's, dropping it to the ground. Keith raised his rifle and fired at the last one on the right, the shot missed the Muton, but struck the tree it was hiding behind, the top part of the tree toppled to the ground, the shots weakening the trunk enough that it couldn't support the weight. The Muton was left partly out of cover now. Masambe raise his LMG, and began spraying at the tree with light. The Muton quickly dropped, it and the tree completely destroyed by the laser fire.

Maxim was about to take another shot, but, put his rifle away, and ran forward, putting his should against a tree, and, looking at the Muton, projecting his thoughts into the creatures head. He heard a screech, but no-one else did, and the creature didn't open it's mouth. The Muton dropped to the floor.

"It's running!" William called, levelling his LMG and firing at the Thin Man as it ran. Maxim didn't know what had happened to the other one, but saw it's dead body nearby. The Thin Man outran William's spray, leaping up a hill and running down it, out of sight.

"He'll be getting friends" Keith called.

As if in answer to his statement, 3 Muton's came running down the side of the cliff the Thin Man had jumped up. One of the Muton's was a head taller than the others, and had no gun in it's hands, one of the 'Berserker' variants, as they'd been dubbed by Karl.

Maxim quickly spun his rifle around, firing a shot into the Berserker, the shot drove directly into it's skull, and burned a hole through, but it merely roared, and continued running at them.

"Damn it" Karl shouted as he ran over, and fired a volley into it's chest, the shot driving into it's chest, it turned and began charging at him"Is there anything important in that thing we can shoot at", he fired his 2nd shot, but the laser skimmed the Berserker's shoulder, burning the plate of it's armour.

There was a loud whirring noise, and Maxim glanced to his right, and saw William, standing behind a nearby tree, raising his LMG, and spraying the Berserker. The shots pummelled into it's legs and stomach, punching through the armour, the thing stumbled and fell, but dragged itself back to it's feet. Keith and Masambe both raised their guns and fired at one of the Muton's, as it raised up from it's tree to fire, wrecking the tree, and dropping the Muton under a hail of lasers.

The other Muton took the opportunity to fire off a shot as the others killed it's friend. Firing a bolt at Karl, which skimmed the side of the tree as Karl dropped to the ground to avoid the shot, the alien took the opportunity to try and keep him there, firing repeatedly around the tree to prevent Karl from being able to move. There was a loud roar, followed by a shout of pain, and Maxim turned to see the Berserker, a mess of green, acidic blood, greyish bone, and red and green armour, fall onto William, claw arm first, as it was finally dropped by the hail of lasers being fired into it by William. The claws punched clean through the armour over William's stomach, as the weight of the creature drove William, and it's claws, straight into the ground, pinning him beneath the alien carcass.

Keith runs over, and began helping William get the creature off him. Maxim turned, saw that the Muton was too behind it's tree for him to get a shot off on it, that would do more than burn it's armour, so he lowered his rifle, and focused, there was the familiar mental roar of pain as the alien stopped firing to hold it's head in pain. Karl took the brief respite from the supressing fire, to fire his grappling hook into a tree near to the Muton, pulling himself across the gap before the Muton could recover from the Mindfray, bringing up his rifle to take a shot, and firing a shot at the alien as it was disorientated, but it dropped to the ground at the last second, whether that was from the pain of the Mindfray, or because it was ducking was unclear, but never-the-less Karl's shot went high, one boring into the tree, the other burning a hole through the alien ship.

Maxim felt a burning sensation in his side, and quickly dropped to the ground, turning to see the Muton that had run off, lowering it's rifle as it went back behind a tree. Maxim fired his grapple into a tree, and zipped into a new position, almost slamming into the tree, but slowing down enough to not smash his head against the trunk, he brought up his pistol and fired, the bolt boring a hole clean through the alien's skull. He then slumped back down, and looked at his wound, he had a long plasma burn down his side, going from just below his armpit, to his hip. Maxim grimaced as the pain fully set in, and wondered why it was that you never really felt the pain of wounds until you looked at it. "You alright" Maxim turned to see Keith standing next to him, a med kit in hand. Maxim was about to respond, when he heard a roar, and looked over to see Aya, right next to the remaining Muton, fire a shot into it's head, a destroying it. "Damn, Psycho can move fast" Keith remarked.

"Yeah. Can you, uh, do the thing?" Maxim asked

"Oh yes" Keith replied, turning back and spraying his wound with the spray, the pain dissipated almost immediately. Keith then brought out another kit, and sprayed that over the area, and a cement-like substance was sprayed over the gap in his armour, sealing up the crack with a tough, flexible substance, not as strong as the armour it was sitting between, but strong enough to act as armour for the time being.

"Thanks" Maxim replied.

"Rest up for a second, reload and get ready. We're moving into the ship in a few minutes" William said, climbing up the hill, taking position behind a tree, and loading in a new cell into his LMG.

Maxim ejected his cell, and inserted a new one, as the others likewise reloaded and rested up for a few seconds.

"Vampire, see anything?" William asked

Maxim engaged Psionic vision and looked around, but he couldn't see anything around, and couldn't see through the plating of the ship. "I can't see anything outside. And the ship's too dense to see through"

"Very well then. Spray, Psycho, lead the way in. Whirr, you and I will follow them in. Vampire, Scotch, bring up the rear" William said

They all began moving towards the 'front door' of the ship. As the 'Assault's' moved in, a bolt of plasma came from the ship, heading straight for Aya, who rolled, going under the bolt, and coming up by the hole in the side, swinging round with her gun in hand. "It's gone" she called, moving into the ship.

They formed up in the ship. Aya and Karl taking cover beside a hole leading to the middle, William and Masambe crouching behind consoles. Maxim and Keith taking position by the 'front door'.

"Move in" William called.

Aya and Keith began heading in. Maxim saw a railing, or something like that, through the hole, and fired his grappling hook, catching the railing, and pulling himself through the hole, joining up with Keith and Aya. "Hey. Where'd you come from" Karl said.

Maxim felt something strange, and turned, to see a Thin Man running in from the side 'side door' to the room the others were in, he raised his pistol, and fired, just as Keith did the same from the other room. The alien was caught between the shots, and had it's chest and head vaporised by the laser and plasma together.

"Vampire, Spray, take the left door. Psycho, take the right. Open the door, take some shots, then fall back, draw them out " William called, pointing to the control room "Everyone else, form up here, and get ready"

They ran to their positions. Maxim took position by the door closest to the others, Karl taking the other side.

Aya passed her hand through the door, at the same time that Karl did. Maxim saw 2 of the 'Commander' variants of the Sectoid's, behind the wall Aya was behind, Karl raise his rifle, and fired, his shots slammed into the closest aliens bulbous head, but, when they connected, they seemed to have little more power than a laser pointer, the energy of the shot being absorbed by the psionic barriers the aliens made around themselves to protect them from harm. Maxim could see it, as a purplish sparkling around them, but knew the others couldn't. He saw the barrier around the one Karl had shot at was not as strong as the other's was. So knew the shot's had drained some of the power from it.

"Pull back" William shouted. Maxim quickly swung around, to see what he was doing, and saw him pull out a grenade. Aya ran around, taking position on the wall across from him. He heard a beeping, and a grenade landed, right by the wall the alien's were hiding behind. Maxim turned his head, since he no longer had a helmet, it wouldn't dim his audio and vision to compensate for the flash and noise anymore. He heard the loud boom as it went off, and turned to look, seeing the wall had been destroyed, they were both still alive, but they'd been knocked on their asses. The purple sparkling around one was completely gone, and the other had only the barest amount of a glow, clearly the blast had taken a significant amount of energy to block (the Aliens could only devote a certain amount of energy to the fields, as devoting too much would require all their focus, and prevent them from being able to use other powers).

A beam of light came from behind, clearly Keith's, as there was no whirr of an LMG, but the shot went just a little too high, and missed the alien. Maxim brought up his rifle, and fired. The shot driving through the head of the closest one, killing it as it tried to get up, burning out others psionic field, and hitting it's gun. Just as the alien was turning towards him, and Maxim saw a purple glow begin around the alien, a sign that it was about to unleash a psionic power, an armoured foot lashed it straight in the head, nocking it to the floor, and breaking it's concentration. The alien rolled around, and seemed to be about to do something, when arcs of electricity shot though it, nocking it unconscious. Aya stood over the alien, her Laser-Taser (Maxim really needed to learn the real name of the thing. But still liked giving it fun names every time he saw it) in hand. She reached down, and picked up the alien by it's leg, slung it over her shoulder, and began walking back towards the skyranger, just as Central's voice came over the coms (Maxim just had an earpiece rather than the speaker's of his helmet) "No more hostile's in the AO. Good job out there".

* * *

 **I hinted at it before. But I decided to give the actual reasons the Sectoid Commander's could take a hit, since Maxim now uses powers as well, I decided Psionic users, can see the abilities of other Psionic users. (So the other's don't actually see Maxim's purple glowing eyes when he uses X-Ray vision). And I should really learn the name of the Taser thing, I think it's something like star-thrower, but I could be wrong. I also can't really be bothered. Maxim wouldn't have bothered either, he doesn't use one, and I do like giving it a new name every time it's used. This one also ended up being a bit longer, and other parts in the future that have a battle will probably be longer. Since we're getting closer to end-game, so the missions start getting more difficult, and we still have quite a few new things to encounter. I like the Berserkers. They're insanely tough, and never just die, so I liked the idea of: Their armour doesn't actually do much, they just don't give a fuck, and I wanted to add some more gory stuff in. I already have this rated M, so I might as well earn that M rating.**


	14. Chapter 14: Training the squad

**I just noticed that it doesn't seem to save my Enters to new lines. I'll go back and fix that. Sorry. I'll just change it to: One of the line things, and the first 2 words in bold.**

* * *

 **"It's really** quite simple once you figure out how it works" Maxim explained. He was back in the psionic training area. But he wasn't training himself anymore. He was trying to help out the new batch. Keith, Ryo, and Eva were the new 3 in there, and Maxim was currently trying to help Eva with using any powers she had (Even after doing some tests on Maxim, they had yet to find a way to test people, short of getting them to try and use them) "I'm really not good at explaining things"

"Could've fooled me" Eva replied, she had her eyes screwed shut in focus, he hair was tied back in a pony-tail, and she was wearing an outfit of army fatigues.

"No. You're trying to hard. You're goanna pop a blood vessel" Maxim had been in the area with them for 4 days now. It was easy trying to help Keith and Eva, they were friends, or, at least Maxim saw Eva as his friend, he wasn't sure if she thought of him as a friend, or as a creep who could be looking at her any time he wanted. Helping Ryo was more difficult. They had almost come to blows several time as Maxim tried to explain it, and Ryo just refused to accept that it worked like a game.

"But you said you need to focus" Eva replied, opening her eyes again, and looking at the Sectoid they had chained on the other side of the room. It had been struggling to escape for the first few days, but had given up after they hadn't hurt it, and it couldn't escape anyway.

"Yes, it needs focus, but it shouldn't take that much effort. It's difficult to start with, and get's easier as you do it. The first time is difficult. Just a second. Let me think. It's really difficult to explain it"

"I'm not going anywhere"

Maxim chuckled a little bit. They'd started a bit of a running joke with that, as Maxim kept having to stop to think during their 'lessons'

"How'd you figure it out?"

"I didn't. Not really. It was Karl"

"Karl figured it out. But he doesn't have Psionics"

"No, he can't do it, but he figured out how it works. Basically, it just works exactly it does in a game we played"

"No way"

"Yeah, I didn't believe it either, but, that's why i'm good at them"

"What?"

"Uh, before joining X-COM, I was a, uh, professional gamer"

"What?"

"Yeah, no idea how- Anyway, I need to think about a way to explain this shit. We can talk about my joining after you're done training"

"Deal"

Maxim smiled "Uh, I, I, think I've got a way. No idea if this will make sense. Basically, just imagine that you can turn your emotions and thoughts into some mist, or something like that. And then, try throwing that"

"I'm going to look like an idiot" Eva smiled. But seemed to do as he suggested, she held her arm back behind her, like she was going to throw a ball overarm, focused for a few seconds, then threw it like a pitcher at a baseball game.

Maxim half-expected the alien to shriek and fall over, but nothing happened. The alien merely looked at them, and blinked it's massive eyes.

Eva grunted in frustration.

"Hey. Don't worry. It took me until day 6 to get it" Maxim reassured her "You might still have them"

"Thanks. But I doubt it. None of this is making sense to me. You said when you heard Karl say that, it all seemed to click, and it made sense"

"Yes, but, it could work different for you. We have no idea how this shit works. They've scanned my brain so many times, but they can't find anything that would show how it works. Maybe yours will work differently to mine"

"Maybe" Eva sighed

* * *

 **Maxim walked** out of the area in frustration. He was 'this close' to Mindfraying Ryo. He'd had to do this almost every time he attempted to train Ryo. He really hoped Ryo didn't have Psionic potential. If he did, Maxim would have to spend a lot more time with him, teaching how to use the powers properly. "Difficult?" the voice of Dr. Vahlen asked from beside him. Maxim turned to see Vahlen looking at a monitor on the screen.

"You have no idea. Can I not Mindfray him a little bit?" Maxim asked. Joking. But kind of hoping she'd say yes.

"Unfortunately not" Vahlen replied. Maxim could hear the smile in her voice "We don't know how it works. Hitting him with a Psionic power could disrupt any potential he has for the powers"

"Or it could increase it" Maxim suggested

Vahlen laughed "You just want to get him to stop being a dick don't you"

"Well, duh. Come on. No-one likes him. Maybe giving him a Mindfray will remove the dickishness from him"

"I think it would take more than that" Vahlen laughed

Maxim looked through the glass. Ryo was currently beating the snot out of the alien. But he was using his fists.

"He does know he's supposed to be training his mind. Not his fists,right?"

"He was a member of a gang. They would have done things with their fists and guns rather than think it through"

"Oh yeah. I tend to forget that. He's always so business-like. He doesn't seem like a ganger"

"People rarely seem like what they do. You should know that more than anyone. A professional gamer, turned soldier, turned Psionic master"

"I wouldn't call myself a master. I barely understand how it work-Owch" Ryo seemed to be systematically ripping the aliens limbs off and organs out now that he had killed it "How can he be so brutal. I get he's frustrated. I was so frustrated for my first 6 days in there. But I got though that by working on trying the power, or working out. And even before this soldier stuff, I would just go and do something I was familiar with. Shuffle a pack of cards, read a book"

"Wait a minute. You worked out?" Maxim could again hear the smile in her voice, as he watched Ryo taking the poor alien apart (Maxim never thought he'd feel sorry for an alien)

"I had nothing else to do in there" Maxim moaned "I was so bored"

"I'd imagine" Vahlen replied "Anyway. Different people work through frustration in different ways. You work it out through routine. He works his out through violence. I work through it by simply burying myself in my work"

"I suppose" Maxim said, turning back to Vahlen "Anyway. Keith's next in, right?"

Vahlen turned to another screen "Yes. He'll be in, in about half an hour. But I think we can take Ryo out early. We'll need to hose it down"

"Well, good luck with that. I need to sit down for a bit. All these deep conversations are making me think differently about the world. And tha't making me uncomfortable"

"Yes of course, go and get a drink or something. I'll send over the coms when Keith's ready"

"Thanks" Maxim headed out the door, making his way to the bar

* * *

 **"Hi Vampire"** Aya called as Maxim walked in. She grabbed a glass, and began filling it "Anyone making any progress?"

"Not really" Maxim sat down "Ryo took a Sectoid apart"

"That's impressive" She placed his drink down, and sat down on her side (She'd gotten a chair back there at some point) with her own drink

"It would have been. Unfortunately, he used his fists to do it"

"It doesn't sound like he's going to have Psionic potential then" Aya replied

Maxim had been coming to the bar fairly frequently. He was spending most of his day's in the Psionics training area. Either trying to help them use any power's they might have, helping Vahlen run some tests, being tested by Vahlen, or doing some training of his own powers. He didn't get much chance to get out, so when he did, he would head to the bar. Since he didn't get enough time to do any gaming properly, and he was emotionally drained from everything he's been doing, so didn't feel like doing any working out.

"I really hope not"

"Any of the others showing promise?"

"Eva and Keith are doing better than Ryo. I've tried a bunch of ways to explain it, the only one Eva really understands is trying to focus it into a mist ball and throw it at them. Keith is doing a bit better. He's found a way to explain it. Something along the lines of, he knows how the human body works, so is just kind of trying to put the way his body works into the aliens head, to make it try and function like ours does, which would confuse the fuck out of it's head. So that'd be his version of the Mindfray"

"Sounds like a strange way of doing it. But whatever works for him"

"Did you ever find a way to explain it to yourself?"

"Not really. I'm not good at understanding things I can't see with my own eyes"

"You're a cement thinker then" Maxim said, thinking about one of his talks with Masambe. Maxim could swear Masambe missed his calling as a Philosopher.

"I have no idea what that means"

"Just something Masambe mentioned"

"Well. Whatever the reason is. I'm not really bothered. I kill aliens for a living"

"That's a cheery outlook on life"

"It's easier than trying to think about things too deeply, and just confusing myself. Anyway. Want another drink?"

"Sure I'll-"

"Maxim Popov. Please report to the Psionics Training Facility" said the voice over the intercom of the base.

"Guess I'll get that to go" Maxim said

Aya reached behind the bar, and brought out a cup, one of the paper ones from a fast food place

"Where'd you get that"

Aya smiled at him, and filled the take-out cup.

"Thanks" Maxim replied, taking the cup, and heading for the elevator.

* * *

 **"Hi Max"** Keith said, as Maxim walked into the training room.

"Hey Keith. How'd your focus coming?" Maxim asked, sipping from his cup, walking around the chained up Sectoid, this one was newly put there, and was struggling around.

"Pretty good. I've also got a good grip on how it works. If I have potentially, hopefully, this'll start working in a couple days. Wait. Did you go to Mc. Donald's?"

"Huh? Oh, no. Aya had this behind the bar, so I brought a to-go cup"

"Aw. You didn't bring me one" Keith smiled

"I don't think a take-out cup is a suitable home for a Scotch"

"Hah. I guess not"

"Well, we might as well get started. I'll keep an eye on you, see if I see any psionic build up"

Keith began trying to use Mindfray on the Sectoid, he closed his eyes, but didn't screw them up in concentration like Eva had been doing. Maxim began doing his Psionic Vision, Vahlen told him to call it that rather than X-Ray, she'd explained how she thought it worked, something about being able to just look at people's psionic networks or something, but Maxim had gotten lost in her technobabble, but he knew he could see Psionic abilities easier when he used it. He looked at the Sectoid, and saw it's brain had a small purple glow to it, showing it had some unlocked Psionic Potential. He looked away from the struggling alien, over to Keith, who was still trying to Mindfray the alien. For a second, he thought he saw something, but it disappeared too quickly, so he didn't know if Keith did something, or he just imagined it.

"Keep going. I think I just saw something"

"You think?"

"It disappeared, so I might have been imagining it"

"Well, it's something" Keith said, going back to focusing.

* * *

 **"Woah" Maxim** quickly covered his head with his arm as the Sectoid's head exploded "The fuck just happened?"

"Did I?" Keith stammered

"Holy crap"

"Guess I did it too strong?"

"You think?"

Keith kept staring at the aliens shoulders. One second, it had been siting there, absently pulling on it's chains, then it stiffened, and it's head exploded. The room was covered in yellow blood, and bits of grey flesh. "Uh Vahlen?"

"I saw Maxim. Our scanners did detect a flair in Keith's brain activity, similar to how yours does when you use powers"

"Well. Bring in another one. Let's make sure that wasn't some kind of fluke"

Keith was still looking at the aliens shoulders. Maxim wasn't sure it was shock, or curiosity.

"Keith. Any special powers showing up?" Maxim asked, as he joined Keith in the training area. Keith had made great progress with his Psionics. He didn't explode the alien's heads anymore.

"What do you mean?" Keith asked, he'd been training the Mindfray for a few days, and this was around the time that Maxim had developed his Psionic vision, and just a day and a half before he left the training area.

"Like my Psionic vision. This was around the time I got mine. So I wanted to know if you'd found anything you could do"

"Well there is one thing" Keith said, his voice sounded strangely echoy.

"What is it?"

"This" Keith replied

"What are you- Oh crap" It suddenly clicked, as Maxim realised Keith's mouth wasn't moving

"You learned telepathy?"

"Apparently"

"Can you like, read my mind"

"Not in depth. I think I can only hear what you are thinking at that time"

"How'd you notice it?"

"When I replied to a question Vahlen hadn't asked yet"

"This is awesome"

"Damn right. This is going to come in handy"

"I'd mess with so many people with that"

"What do you mean?"

"I'd just speak in their head while their alone in their room. Tell them to burn things"

"I think it's a good thing you didn't get it then"

"Yeah, probably. Anyway. Psionic battle?"

"Seriously?"

"Yeah. I can take it"

"Alright then. If your sure. I'll try not to blow up your head"

"You better not. Vahlen will be pissed if she has to clean this place again"

* * *

 **Yay. Another Psionic friend. Sorry if you wanted a battle. Nothing interesting happened. Next part will be something similar. Just some more Psionic training with the next batch. But Keith can help now. Yay. Fortunately, the part after that will have a nice battle, we had a fun mission. I realized I'd never described Eva, so I put that in. I've probably not described the others in any great detail, but I think it's too late to do it now. You've probably got your own imagination of how they look, and I don't want to ruin it, with things like facts. Anyway, thank you for staying with this story. I'll also be getting XCOM 2 as soon as it comes on sale on Steam. So I could end up starting a second one pretty soon after finishing this one. So I may decide that someone will make a comeback in XCOM 2 if they survive 1. As far as any potential relationship stuff could come along. I'm not going to force anything, just, if something seems to be happening, I'll go with it. Just a potential warning. I have decided a couple of characters to be gay, so if you don't like that stuff, then sorry. But don't worry. I won't be describing any R-rated scenes. Partly to avoid any offensive things, and partly because I'm not good at, or comfortable with it. Once again, sorry for rambling through this bit, but I felt I needed to add that bit in, just as a warning. (I do honestly have no idea if relationships will develop. I let the characters lead the story, and rarely plan more than about 10 minutes ahead... Aside from what happens in the game of course)**


	15. Chapter 15: Back to Operations

**"Now I** am become death, the destroyer of worlds" Masambe said as he successfully Mindfrayed the Sectoid, and it dropped to the floor. Maxim and Ketih had been helping him, and the twins (Harold and Joe Sanders), with psionic training. Right now, only Maxim was with him. Sometimes they both helped, other times, there was just one of them. Masambe had been showing potential, but this was the first time he'd done it.

"What?" Maxim asked

"It's a quote, from, Robert Oppenheimer"

"Who?"

"The man who created the Atomic Bomb"

"Well, that's... interesting"

"It's a contemplation on the power I now wield. What man would think to wield such power over others"

"Stop ruining it"

"What do you mean?"

"You're being all philosophical about it, making it seem like a deep issue"

"It is a deep issue"

"But I don't want to think of it like that. I like it as something fun I can do"

"I'm sorry if you feel that way and I'm wrecking your fun. But I think like this"

"You should've been a philosopher"

"That's what my old army friends told me"

"Why didn't you then?"

"Because I wanted to protect people. And all philosopher's protect people from is thinking too much"

"True"

"Anyway. Any tips, now that I have these powers"

"Oh. Yeah, well, don't focus too hard around other people, I did kill a couple Sectoid's by accident"

"That doesn't sound too good"

"Don't worry. You'll learn to control it after a few days. And you'll probably develop your own little powers"

"Pardon?"

"Like my Psionic Vision, Keith's Telepathy. Just a little thing that you have. Nothing major, but useful in a pinch"

"How do you develop them?"

"They just kinda, develop on their own"

"How?"

"I don't know how to tell you but, they just kinda, show up"

"Well. It will be interesting to discover what mine becomes"

"Keep me posted"

"Of course"

* * *

 **"Operatives, Karl** Wagner, Keith Taylor, William Ward, Aya Haidar, Maxim Popov, and Eva Solovyova. Please report to the Hangar"

"Guess I gotta go"

"I'll keep at this. Hopefully I'll have something when you get back"

"You do that. See you later"

"Bye Maxim"

Maxim left the training area, passing by Vahlen as he went

"Any progress with Mr. Sanders?"

"Some. I'm still not good at seeing if someone's getting Psionics"

"That's to be expected. We still know very little about this"

"Anyway. Not to cut this short. But I gotta go"

"Yes, head on out and get me some specimens"

"Sure. First thing on my list"

* * *

 **"Hey Max"** Keith said as Maxim came in "New guns". He was holding a different gun than normal, it was smaller, and had had a window on the top showing a tube with green gas in it.

"Are those. Plasma weapons?" Maxim asked

"Yep, Shen brought them up" Karl seemed happy "Gotta love more firepower"

"Can't wait till I get mine" Maxim said

"That won't be for a while"

"Why?"

"Shen said their working on a new suit of armour"

"Well maybe after that"

"Maybe"

* * *

 **"Ew" Eva** said, she sat closest the door, so was the first one out

"What is it" William asked

"Dead animals" Eva reported

"You're right next to a farm" Central said over the coms "They're probably doing some kind of tests on the animals. This is what brought their location to our attention"

"Right" Eva replied

"Vampire" William said

"One sec" Maxim engaged Psionic Vision, and scanned the area. He couldn't see any aliens. The ship was pretty obvious, they'd set down just in front of it "Nothing in sight"

"Ship is in sight. Advance together" William said, and they began moving forward, using fallen trees for cover in case of ambush.

"Muton's, Berserker" Aya said, raising a pistol and taking a shot at a Muton, which were currently running at them from the side, 2 Mutons heading for cover, and a Berserker running right at them

Keith and Karl both brought up their rifle's and fired, each shot either missing, or only burning it's armour

"Damn new guns" Karl complained

Eva then popped up, and fired a shot at a Muton as it ran for cover, striking it right in the chest, but not killing it.

"I thought you liked the new guns" Keith said as he popped up from cover and fired at the Berserker, striking the side of it's face, and burning off the skin, showing the skull of the alien.

"Just need to get used to them" Karl replied, taking some shots at the Berserker, one shot skimmed the armour, and only burned it, but the other stuck it's non-claw arm, and took the hand clean off

The Berserker roared, and was right next to Karl, about to claw him, when Karl drops down, firing a plasma shot at it, the bolt riped into the claw, taking the blades off the aliens wrist, as the alien recovered from the hit, Aya appeared next to Karl, and fired her super-Taser, the Berserker seemed unaffected for a second, but it dropped to the ground unconscious.

Maxim meanwhile had been waiting for the Muton's to pop up from their tree's. One of them did so, and Maxim swivelled, firing a laser straight into it's head. The alien's body dropped to the ground, headless, Maxim then turned back in time to see the other Muton getting up to take a shot, but Maxim fired first, the shot striking cleanly through it's chest, and dropping it to the ground.

"The fuck is that?" Eva called, Maxim turned, and saw 2 of the drones from the base fly forward, one of which was badly damaged by a beam of plasma from Eva, but they weren't what prompted the cursing. Behind them was a large metal object, in the shape of a disk, it was hovering and flying towards them.

There was a loud whirring, and William began unloading at the disk. Somehow, despite it's shape, it moved with amazing speed, for a second a thought went through Maxim's head 'Aya?', as it weaved effortlessly through the hail of laser, not one striking it directly.

"Damn. Bitch be fast" Karl remarked as he took his shots at the disk, just as it came out of 'evasive manoeuvres'. This time the shots struck it straight in the side, burning a deep hole in the machinery. Eva then brought her gun up, and finished it off. Maxim raised his sniper, and destroyed the undamaged drone, just as the other was shot at by Aya taking a pistol shot, the drone turned, and began flying away, narrowly avoiding the beam of light.

"He'll be getting friends" William called "Hold position"

Maxim ejected the cell from his gun, and loaded in a new one, as they waited for the drone's 'Friends'

"Floaters" Aya called, firing a pistol, and striking one in the shoulder, it didn't drop but was hurt.

Maxim looked at one, and focused. The alien dropped to the ground. Another dropped to the ground, and, using his Psionic vision, saw the slight purple glow around Keith, showing he'd also just Mindfrayed.

The floater that Aya had shot began flying for cover, but a plasma bolt fired by Eva struck it in the jetpack, and it disappeared in a ball of fire.

"The Drone will be telling them where we are. But we're in a good position. Load up and wait" William said

Maxim kept his cell in, having not fired a shot, and kept his eyes open, scanning around for any aliens attempting to sneak.

"Floater's" William called, and began spraying, he struck one with a hail, badly damaging it, but not dropping it, like it should have done to a floater. Karl and Aya both also took shots, but the Floaters moved faster than they should have, and jumped over the shot.

Maxim raised his rifle, and took a shot, striking one in the head, and dropping it to the floor, he turned, and fired another, striking it's gun, during this shot, Maxim noticed it was holding the same gun that a Muton did, and has a lot of armour on it "They got big guns and armour!"

"It would seem like a more elite version of the Floater's" Central reported over the coms "Bring one in alive if you can"

Aya and Karl began running forward from their position as the tree's, to the consoles the alien's were flying above. Karl providing covering fire with his rifle as they went, and Aya taking out her Super-Taser. William raised a rocket launcher, and fired, hitting the 2 floaters. Neither were killed by the blast.

"Smoke out!" Eva called as she threw a smoke grenade towards Aya and Karl, covering them in smoke to give them cover. The one Floater went to take a shot, but instead had to spend a few seconds fiddling with it's gun. The other flew around to get behind the console they had run behind, and fired into the smoke. As Maxim saw it fire, he focused, and the alien seemed to stumble, one hand going to it's head. Before it finished this action, a laser scythed through it's head, dropping it to the ground. Keith Mindfrayed the other alien, preventing it from taking a shot, as Aya emerged from the smoke, and Taser'd the alien, it dropped to the ground.

"Rest up again" William called "We need to go in together"

Maxim began jogging forwards, ejecting the cell, and putting in another one. The others did similarly as they moved up.

"Vampire, Spray, take the ramp on the left" William called "Everyone else, take the middle"

Maxim turned, and fired a grappling hook at the railing, launching himself towards the ramp. As he pulled himself over, another grappling stuck into the railing, and Karl cam flying over, also pulling himself over "Screw walking" he said, and put his hand up for a high-five. Maxim high-fived him, then turned, and began moving up the side, keeping pace with the others in he middle.

"Drone's back" Eva called firing a shot, which the drone hovered over, the bolt of plasma managing to destroy only a railing. The drone turned, and flew back out a hole in the ship.

Maxim turned to where it had gone out of the ship, a second before it flew back in. Maxim fired, striking right in the 'eye', destroying it. "Got it"

They moved into the room before the command deck. "Form up, Assaults at the door. Shield, across from me. Vampire, Scotch, take the back". They formed up in the usual formation, Eva taking Masambe's place

Aya passed her hand through the door "3 Commander'. They're grouped", Aya moved around to the other side, next to Karl. William raised his rocket launcher. Maxim turned away, he really hoped Shen finished those 'tactical glasses' soon (they were going to work like a helmet, but only cover the eyes and ears, so they wouldn't interrupt the psionic abilities, but still let them see tactical readouts, and dull vision and hearing at noises and lights).

Maxim looked back to see the wall had been destroyed, and he now had vision on the aliens, and he fired, striking one, just as 2 bolts of plasma came from Karl and Keith, killing the aliens before they had a chance to put their Psionic barriers back up, killing all the aliens in one unified burst of plasma and laser. Luckily they'd all shot at different Sectoid's.

"Nice job everyone" Central said

* * *

 **"Ah!" Maxim** exclaimed on the way back, putting a hand to his head, as he suddenly felt extreme pain in the back of his skull, and his vision suddenly became blurry

Keith immediately got out his seat and crouched in front of Maxim "What's wrong?"

"I don't know. Sudden Migraine from no-where"

"Has this happened before"

"Nope"

"This could be some symptom of your Psionic abilities. I'll try to reduce your pain. But we need Vahlen to take a look at you" he produced a med-kit, and sprayed him. Maxim immediately felt the pain fade, but not disappear completely, and his vision cleared

"Ugh. Vahlen had better not dissect me"

"I'm sure you'll be fine" Karl said

* * *

 **"Hello Maxim"** Vahlen said, as he entered the upper level of the Psionics training area "Keith said you've been suffering from a migraine"

"Yeah. I took some tablets, but they're not helping. Keith used a med-kit, and the dulled the pain, but it's coming back now"

"Lie down here" Vahlen said, motioning to a table she was standing next to. Maxim did as instructed, and a large white device came down from the ceiling, settling into place over his head. Maxim was slightly worried, thinking back to his comment about her dissecting him.

"Uh, doc, what is this?"

"A modified M.R.I scanner. In addition to it's usual capabilities, it can detect some Psionic energies"

"Oh, uh, alright"

"It's not going to hurt you" Vahlen assured

"I'm trusting you"

"This will take a few minutes Maxim"

* * *

 **A few** minutes later, the device rose back into the ceiling.

"You can sit up now Maxim" Vahlen said. Maxim did so

"How's my brain looking?"

"Take a look" she turned a screen around, showing a cross-section of a brain, Maxim's brain. Most of it looked normal, but for a slightly purple glow to the back portion

"Uh, what's that?"

"That's a good question. What do you think it is?"

"Well. It looks like what I normally see when someone uses a Psionic power"

"Exactly, it seems as if you have a small build up of Psionic energy located in the back of your brain"

"Any idea what's causing it?"

"Yes, actually"

"What then, stop being a dick about it"

Vahlen laughed

"No, seriously, hurry up, this hurts like a bitch"

"Oh, sorry. Anyway, from what we've learned from some captured Sectoid's, this is a fairly common occurrence. It should fade down in a few days"

"Ugh, a few days!"

"But afterwards, the energy should burn itself out, and unlock some hidden psionic potential"

"So, I'll know more Psionics?"

"Potentially, yes"

"Know any way to stop the migraine's?"

"It's a build up of Psionic energy, simply using your psionic abilities will lessen the amount of energy that can build up, lessening the effects of the migraine"


	16. Chapter 16: Psionics and Flight

**"Ow" Maxim** muttered, as Karl came into the bar, opening the door with too much force, making it bang into the wall, and aggravating Maxim's migraine.

"Oh, sorry Max" Karl apologised "I didn't know you were here"

"The usual?" Aya asked from behind the bar

"Sure" Karl replied, coming to sit next to Maxim "No change in the migraine then?"

"No, nothing"

"That must suck"

"No shit"

"Well, at least you should unlock more psionic stuff afterwards"

"Maybe"

"I thought you said using Psionics helps it?"

"It does, but not much"

"Ah. Anyway. Any of the others showing promise?"

"Masambe has basically finished. Harold's also showing some small amounts"

"Hey, 2 new Psionic guys"

"Masambe's gotten even more philosophical recently"

"That's possible?"

"I didn't think so-" Maxim interrupted himself as he felt something strange, a sudden build up of psionic pressure behind his eyes

"What's up? Karl asked

"Uh, something's happening. You might want to back up a bit"

"Oh crap" Karl said, a took a few steps back, looking concerned. Aya also stepped back

"What is it?" Aya asked

"Not sure, some press-" He again stopped himself as he felt the pressure suddenly explode outwards. Maxim could see it, expanding in a nova from him, passing through Aya and Karl, before dissipating into the air a few feet behind them. "Uh... You guys, alright?" He could see a light purple glow around them, similar to the glow around the bodies of those that had been hit by a Mindfray a few minutes ago. Visible only to someone with Psionic abilities, and shows that either a powerful Psionic effect was used on them, and has been dissipating for a time, or a weaker Psionic effect was used on them recently.

"I don't feel any different" Aya replied

"Uh, Not that you mention it, I do feel, strange"

"How so?"

"I don't know how to explain it. Calm?"

"Well. The migraine disappeared, so I should go visit Vahlen. And you guys should come as well"

"Why?" Aya asked

"Well, I think I just did some kind of Psionic power. So Vahlen's going to want to check you out"

"That's probably a good idea" Karl came over, finished his drink in one go, and lead the way to the Psionic training area.

* * *

 **"Explain what** happened" Vahlen said. Maxim and the others had arrived at the training area, and had told Vahlen what happened. But she seemed to want details.

"Well" Maxim began "We were talking, then I felt a shift in the pressure causing the migraine. It suddenly went from the back of my head, to behind my eyes. I told them to stand back a bit. The, the Psionic energy just, released"

"Interesting" Vahlen turned to the others "And what did you feel when this happened?"

"Not much" Aya replied

"I just felt, I don't know, calmer, easier to focus, just like I'd gotten any stress just taken out" Karl answered

"Interesting. If it's a psychological effect, that may explain Aya's lack of reaction" Vahlen was taking notes on her tablet "Do you still feel any effects?"

"No. It faded pretty quickly. Like, 3 minutes, maybe"

"Maxim?"

"When I did it, I saw the purple glow that showed they had Psionic's done on them, but it was weak, and, yeah, it's gone, I can't see any remnants in them"

"We shall have to do some more testing, but it appears to have been a low-level pulse of Psionic power. We don't even know if you can replicate this feat. Aya, Karl, you are free to go, but if you begin feeling anything strange, report to me immediately"

"Gotcha" Karl turned and walked off

"Sure" Aya answered as well, following Karl out the room

"Are you sure their heads won't explode?"

"I did some scans, we couldn't find any Psionic energy in them, besides that of the average picked up by close proximity to an individual with Psionic powers"

"Well, that's good"

"Yes. Now. Harold and Masambe have shown development of Psionic powers, and are scheduled to be released from here tomorrow. After they leave, I wish to perform some tests, see if we can't get you to replicate the effect, and if we can determine it's effects"

"I figured as much"

"Of course. Anyway, thank you for bringing them in"

"Sure, I didn't want to have their heads explode from my little Nova"

"Nova?"

"Gaming term, basically a power that comes out of the user, and spreads to a certain distance. It looked like it worked like that"

"Have you got a name already?"

"No. I want to see what it does before I name it. But, for now, let's just call it a Psionic Nova effect"

"Very good. Well, see you tomorrow"

"See ya" Maxim headed off. He had some gaming to catch up on.

* * *

 **"Woah" Maxim** said, as he tested out his new power "I got a name now"

"And what would that be?" Vahlen's voice came over the speaker

"Inspiration"

"Why is that?"

"Well, that seems to be what it does, inspire allies near me. It did nothing to the Sectoid's, and Karl seemed more able to do stuff afterwards"

"A suiting name then. Any other abilities manifesting?"

"Nothing new, but" Maxim engaged his Psionic vision "I think I can, see more with this"

"With what?"

"Oh, sorry, I forgot you can't see my eyes go purple. I think the Psionic vision's improved a bit"

"That's intriguing. We'll need to so some tests to determine the exact capabilities. But that will have to wait"

"Why?" Maxim wasn't really complaining, he could be gaming, or hanging out with Karl right now, but Vahlen never postponed these before.

"Someone just arrived and asked for your appearance at the armoury" (The Psionic's training area wasn't connected to the base coms. So that it wouldn't interrupt someone when their trying to focus on Psionics)

"Why?"

"They didn't say"

"This sounds interesting"

* * *

 **"Hi Vampire"** Aya said as Maxim entered the armoury. He couldn't see her, which was strange, he should be able to see her, it was one room.

"Look up" Aya called again, and Maxim looked up, to see Aya, floating in the air, wearing a suit of armour, with some kind of pack on the back, out of which blue jets were shooting, there were smaller versions on the ankles.

"What the-"

"New armour"

"I can see that"

Aya floated down, landing just in front of him. The jets turned off just before she landed on the floor "Cool, right"

"You can fly"

"It's the armour"

"Duh"

"What do you think"

"I think that's fucking awesome... How are you so good at controlling that? It took me 10 hours of training to use the grappling hook"

"I'm a fast learner" Aya smirked. Maxim had never seen her smirk before

"Why'd you get that?"

"So that I can get over obstacles and get to the alien's easier"

"I guess that makes sense"

"Come on"

"What?"

Before Maxim could do anything else, Aya moved with her usual teleport-speed, grabbed his arm, and flew upwards. Maxim yelped, and wrapped his other arm around her waist, he didn't have his armour on, so a fall would do normal damage.

"I'm not going to drop you"

Maxim kept his arm around her waist, briefly noting that his head was at boob-height before looking up at Aya. She was, smiling. He'd never seen her smile before either (except when she interacted with non-X-COM personnel)

"Who are you, and what have you done with Aya?"

"What?"

"You smirked. And now you're smiling"

"And?"

"You've never done that before"

"Yes I have"

"Only when talking to non-X-COM people"

"Well. Different things make me happy"

"I didn't-"

"Let's not get into a discussion of my Psychopathology while I'm flying"

"That's a weird sentence"

"We're weird people"

"Uh. Would you mind, shifting a bit?"

"Why?"

"Uh, my heads kinda, getting between your girls"

"My girls?"

"Oh for-. My head's going between your tits"

"Oh, right" They dropped quickly, and Maxim was shunted upwards, his arm now around her upper-body, and his head at head-level "Better?"

"Much"

They floated there for a few minutes, Maxim looking around, blushing from the awkwardness, even though he knew she didn't care, the up-side of a psychopath friend he guessed, they honestly didn't care about embarrassment.

Suddenly Maxim heard a beeping noise "Uh, what's tha-*gurk*"

Aya suddenly dropped downwards. Maxim's head seemed to say in place, while his body dropped, and he choked on his own words. As quickly as they'd dropped, they were on the ground.

"What was that?"

"Low fuel warning" Aya replied "I apologise, I got lost in thought, and I didn't pay attention"

"It's fine, just got me by surprise"

"That was fun. We should do it again sometime"

"Do what?"

"Flying"

"Oh, yeah, probably better outside though"

"Probably" Aya smiled again, and Maxim noticed that it caused her burn scar to move when she smiled, almost making it fade a bit.

"It's a date. Uh, not a date, an arrangement of time to do it"

"I know what you mean Max"

"Yeah, see you later Aya"

Halfway back to his room Maxim realized 'She didn't call me Vampire. She used my actual name, well, my nick-name... Does that mean something?'. And spent the next hour in his room, with similar thoughts running through his head, before he was interrupted by the coms unit blaring.

"Will Operatives: Maxim Popov, Aya Haidar, Karl Wagner, Joe Sanders, and Keith Taylor please report to the Hangar"

"A mission, well... Wait, William?.. Oh yeah, that's right. He's doing the Psionics training now. I wonder who's going to be the leader then"

Maxim got up, and headed to the hanger. Aya's swap of name's shifted from his mind for the time-being, his sub-conscious Psionic abilities pushed the thoughts that would cloud his mind away, to allow him better focus for the situation to come.

* * *

 **This one's a bit shorter than normal. So I apologize for that, but, standard thing, if one's a bit short, the next one will normally be a bit longer. I felt like it was time to be some more relationship stuff as well, and I prefer to have those separated from any fights. I'll probably be getting more relationship and character development in the recent future. I wont try to force anything that I don't think the characters would do, but, this is my first story, so sorry if some things do end up coming across as being a bit forced.**


	17. Chapter 17: Valkyrie v Beast

**"What are** the aliens doing?" Aya asked.

"Attacking civilians" Joe answered

"Why?"

"To spread fear" Masambe replied

"Why not just spend your forces attacking the military?"

"Because it lowers morale, makes soldiers more afraid" Joe said

"Still sounds like a waste to me"

"It's an effective scare tactic. But we're going to make sure it doesn't work" Keith replied. He was taking over command of the operation, since William was busy training for Psionics.

"Well. Let's get to it. I've got some new armour to try out" Aya said, pumping her shotgun. They had plasma rifle's, and LMG's. But no shotgun's or Sniper's yet. Maxim felt a little left out.

* * *

 **"Vampire, head** up. Everyone else, move forwards, we need to do this fast" Keith said as they got out the skyranger, onto the bridge under attack. Up ahead was an area where another bridge had gone over the one they were on, an overpass, but that had been damaged, and a part of it was broken, resulting in a ramp on one side, and a sudden stop on the other side. Keith pointed to the side with the stop. Maxim nodded, and began heading over, moving to get in range of the grappling hook, he got next to a car, about to grapple up, when he looked over, and saw 3 of the bug-aliens, Crysalids.

"Bugs. 3 of them" he shouted out, taking his sniper rifle off his back. The aliens seemed to notice them, and one ran back, out of sight, and the other 2 ran forwards. The other X-COM soldiers had been moving up as well, and were around, though a bit further back than him,

As they ran forwards, one of the aliens took a plasma bolt to the chest, giving it a massive burn on it's chest, and spilling blue blood on the ground. It screeched, but didn't manage to finish the sound before it was pummelled into oblivion by hail of plasma bolts as Masambe opened fire. The creature stopped screeching as it was demolished, the force of the hundreds of bolts knocking it backwards, over the railing, and down into the water below. During this, the other had been running towards a civilian hiding behind a car in front of Maxim, it got close, but a dual blast of plasma from Karl dropped it just as it was about to round the corner of the car, it's body sliding forward a few feet, leaving a trail of blue blood, coming to rest by the civilian, who was cowering behind the car, and didn't seem to have even noticed what happened, until Joe ran over next to him, tapped him on the shoulder "You've gotta move. Head to the ship over there". The civilian jumped when he was tapped, but seemed to realize what was going on quite quickly, and ran straight into the ship, passing Aya as she moved up to the car as well.

Maxim did a quick scan, and couldn't see any other aliens, so he turned, and grappled onto the railing of the billboard overhead. He climbed through the railing when he got up, bringing his rifle back out, and scanning again, not moving across to the bridge, just in case there turned out to be an alien hiding behind a car.

As he began scanning he heard Keith call out "Aya, head upwards" he was briefly confused, then he remembered his little flight an hour ago, and remembered that she had that new 'Archangel' suit. The name was fitting, the angels that would come down to earth during the Rapture and fight the forces of Satan (that's what he'd heard of them anyway), though he thought 'Valkyrie' would be more fitting for Aya. Valkyrie's were 'The Choosers of the Slain' in Norse myth, coming down during battles and choosing who dies, and who goes to 'Heaven', that sounded more like Aya, it also meant he could use 'Ride of the Valkyries' as her theme song... Man he was showing his geek. Who gave people theme songs?

Aya flew upwards, coming up to a bit above him, although she was over the other bridge "Berserker, Muton" she said, pointing towards them with her shotgun, and beginning to fly closer to them, forwards and downwards. Maxim brought up his wrist-pistol, and fired a bolt into the Berserker as it ran towards the others, hitting it in the shoulder, and burning through the armour. They always focussed the berserkers, since it took a lot to take them down, and it's easier to get under cover to avoid the plasma bolt, than to dodge the claws of the berserker. The bridge light up as Karl, Keith, Masambe, and Joe opened fire. Dozens of plasma bolts smashing into it's chest and head. Karl's shots hit in the chest, destroying the armour, and causing it to begin oozing green blood, Keith's shot deformed it's unarmoured head, but it kept coming until Masambe's shots shredded it's legs, causing it to stumble and fall to it's knees as it ran, as it was standing back up, a bolt from Joe burned into it's already destroyed head. Aya stayed in the sky, the Muton having run behind a truck, and out of sight. It ran into sight, but Aya pumped a plasma bolt at it from her pistol (they'd created some plasma pistols after examining Maxim's alien one), but it did a roll, and ducked the shot, rolling into another cover, Maxim was strangely reminded of a T.V show his watched as a kid, one of the things in it could turn into a ball and roll at speed, with armour on it's outside. Maxim got out of his thoughts in time to notice 2 floaters came up from both the end of the bridge, and down from the 'ramp'. He then looked over, and saw 2 Mutons and a Berserker coming from further along the bridge he was on, they didn't seem to have noticed him, and were running to the end of the bridge, towards a truck against the bridge. Holy shit, who called the alien party?

As the Muton Aya's shot at dropped into cover, Maxim recovered from seeing all of the aliens arrive at once, and lined up a shot, driving a beam of light straight into the Muton as it got up from it's 'cannonballing', then spinning around to fire at one of the Floaters that came from the ramp, striking it in the chest, but not dropping it. Maxim saw the 2 floaters that came from the back drop slightly, but not dropping, and faint purple lines leading to Keith and Masambe, the other 2 Psionics of the group. Floaters had very little physical parts, so Psionics didn't kill them like it should. The Floater that Maxim had shot took a plasma bolt to the chest from Karl, and dropped to the ground. There was another flash, and Maxim looked to the ramp, to see a Crysalid take a bolt to the chest, before running back up the ramp. Looks like someone rang the dinner bell for the buggers. Aya landed on the right side, behind the wreck of a car and pumped a round of lasers into the last non-injured Floater, not quite killing it yet. One of the floaters fired it's gun, aiming for the car Keith was behind, but it was clearly really disorientated by the shot as the shot was several feet to high, and only hit ground. The other floater engaged it's jet pack, and shot upwards. It dropped back down behind a car behind everyone, meanwhile the Muton's got the truck, one dropping to the ground, the other staying on top, and firing beams over Aya's head, suppressive fire, and the Berserker just dropped from the top, ignoring the truck, there was a loud crunch as it hit the ground, it sounded like it broke a bone, but it probably broke the ground, and began sprinting for Aya, the Muton was trying to prevent her from running, they were getting clever, but they didn't count on either Aya's ability to move, and her new armour. She engaged the jets, increasing her already unnatural speed, shooting away before the Muton even realized she'd moved, and getting into cover behind the ramp, next to Joe, further from the Muton. Maxim fired at the Floater, striking it in the shoulder, but somehow, it was still up, that was until Karl ran over next to it, and fired his pistol right into it's skull. Masambe began spraying the Berserker, but it put on a burst of speed, and only took a few bolts before it moved past the spray, and Masambe couldn't correct his hail, but it's speed burst ran it right into a bolt from Keith, which struck it in the knee, the shot should have cause it to stumble, but it didn't even seem to notice as the green blood jetted out of it's leg. Joe put a shot into it's chest, but again, it kept coming, Aya pumped a shot, it's face deforming around the burst of light, it jumped off the ramp, clearly meaning to impale Aya with it's claw as it landed, but Aya fired again, the light hitting it in the head, again, and blowing the mangled mess of meat off it's neck, then she engaged her boosters, and shot backwards as it landed, claw first, where she'd been standing a second ago.

The final floater followed after it's companion, flying upwards, and landing in the same position it's friend did, Karl was currently running forwards, so wasn't in position to just pistol it in the face like he did to the last one. Another floater came in from the ramp, as the Crysalid ran back in. The Muton on the truck repeated it's last trick, apparently it still didn't understand Aya, and fired suppressing fire again, trying to keep her there for the Crysalid. The other Muton turned and killed a Civilian with a plasma bolt to the chest. Owch. Maxim brought his rifle back up, dropping the floater than had landed at the back of the group with a laser to the head, then turning and firing into the Crysalid as it ran towards Aya, the shot went clean through it's chest, through what his Combat Lenses (Shen had dropped them off just before they got on) showed him was it's version of a heart, and it dropped, the body sliding down the ramp, and coming to rest just in front of Aya. Maxim heard a loud bang, thankfully muffled by his Combat Lenses auto-sensors so he didn't go deaf, and he looked over to see the Muton and Floater on the ground, bleeding everywhere from shrapnel wounds, they looked dead, but the floater's jet back stuttered to life, and it flew back up a foot, still alive (Damn these floaters had gotten tough), and the final Muton standing on a flaming truck. It looked like it was about to jump off, but Aya appeared, flying in the air next to it, her back to it, as she burned it's face with the jets of the armour, it stumbled backwards, beginning to raise it's rifle, but Aya spun around, and pumped her shot into it first, knocking it backwards off the truck, following the Crysalid from the beginning into the water. The floater was turning, going to try and take a shot, but it took a bolt to the face before it raised it's harm halfway up.

"All contacts down, round up the civilians and come on home" Central said over the coms

* * *

 **Keith grunted** as they were on their way back to base. They'd dropped off the Civilians at a nearby hospital, they'd saved 11 in total, and none of them seemed injured enough to die in hospital.

"What's wrong?" Joe asked

"Just got the mother of all Migraines" Keith replied with a smile

"Sounds like what happened to me last time" Maxim said

"Yep, I'll unlock something in a few days then"

"Lucky fucker" Maxim said

"What?" Masambe asked

"I had to go through that with no idea what was going on. He has to do it, but he knows what's going on"

"Ha ha" Karl laughed

Maxim stuck his tongue out, but laughed as well.

* * *

 **"Welcome back"** the voice of the Commander called out as they got out of the Skyranger.

"Commander? What are you doing here?" Aya asked

"What? I can't pop by and say hello to my soldiers?"

"You've never done it before" Masambe replied

"What's new" Maxim asked, he knew the Commander enough to know that he was just messing with them, and would probably keep doing that until someone asked the right question

"A lot's new. There's aliens attacking, I'd say that's new. You're a soldier. Humans have Psionics-"

"But what's new that you wanted to tell us about" Maxim interrupted before the Commander could list everything new of the last 10 months.

"Oh, well, that changes the answer entirely" the Commander smiled "We have a new soldier joining us"

"A newbie?" Keith asked

"Kinda" the Commander replied "She was part of a task force that was fighting the aliens like we do, but obviously not as well" he added the last bit like it was obvious "They got ambushed by aliens, and she was the only one to get out alive. They were going to close down the group, and she'd have become just another soldier, but we can always use more soldiers that know how to operate like us, so I had her re-assigned to us. Be nice"

"Always" Karl replied

"Everyone, this is Chipo Gunda" the Commander said, and a woman walked in from behind in. The Commander liked to make things dramatic. She was huge, and not in a weight way. She as tall as Masambe, who was still in his bulky armour, and extremely muscled, she looked like a body-builder "Chipo, this is the group"

"Hello" Chipo said, her voice was completely at odds with her appearance, for starters, she had a very soft voice, although they could hear her fine, it sounded like she was whispering, and her voice, was actually higher than Aya's.

"Hey" Karl said, unperturbed, walking up to her, and putting his hand out for a shake. She grabbed his hand to shake, but he used the opportunity to pull her into a hug, slapping her back. After about half a second, Karl was on his back, with Chipo's foot on his neck.

"Oh, I forgot to mention, Chipo likes her personal space" the Commander laughed as he left

As fast as she'd floored Karl, Aya appeared in front of her. Chipo lifted her foot, and Karl rolled away, Maxim couldn't tell if he was coughing or laughing, probably both, he looked back to see Aya and Chipo staring at each other, Aya lifting her head to look at Chipo's face, which was a good foot higher than her. Looking at them, Maxim knew, if he had to fight one of them, he'd choose Chipo in an instant. Aya was staring back at this woman a foot taller than her, and extremely muscled, without any concern, staring with a ferocity that could make a lion wet it's pants, and Maxim was left with no doubt that, if they were to get in a fight, Aya would win, hands down. After a few seconds, Chipo stepped back, backing up his theory, muttering an apology, and left.

"Damn, Aya" Karl said, getting up from where he'd been laying after rolling away

"What?" Aya asked, looking at him

"You just stared down someone twice your size"

"Yes"

"Remind me not to get on your bad side" Karl laughed "That really wasn't necessary though"

Aya shrugged "She needs to know that she isn't the Alpha here"

"Alpha?" Maxim asked

"The leader of the pack" Masambe replied

"Ah"

"Wait... Does that mean, Aya's the Alpha?" Karl asked

"Would you challenge her for it" Maxim asked

"Nope. But Will might have something to say about it"

"Anyone want a drink?" Aya asked, heading towards the bar

"Of course" Karl said, jogging after her

"They might have problems" Keith said

"Why does the Commander do this?" Maxim asked

"Do what?"

"First Ryo, now this Chipo. Does he just find it fun to give us squad-mates that we're not going to get along with"

"Well, as long as they aren't on a mission together, it should be fine. Like you, Karl, and Ryo"

"Well, I guess. Still seems like a silly thing to do"

"Only against an opponent of similar abilities will your true strength be shone" Masambe said

"What?"

"Basically, you can only perform at your best when you have a rival to compete with"

"I suppose. Anyway, I'm heading to my room, I've got some gaming to do"

"Have fun" Keith said

"I plan to"

Maxim headed to his room. But Masambe's words stayed in his head, only against a rival could your true abilities arrive. Alone with his thoughts, his mind focused on this quote from Masambe. If a rival is needed to reveal your strengths, did that mean that the Alien's were Humanities rival, and they'd reveal the true strength of humanity. Although, he supposed, they'd already done that, because of the aliens, they had developed the ability to unlock Psionic potential in humans. Did that mean he was a strength revealed by a rivalry on a species-wide scale, in fact, his whole being here was a result of that, if there hadn't been any aliens, he would have stayed at home, lived a normal life, and never known of what he could really do. He forced the thoughts out of his head as he got into his games. Sometimes he hated Masambe and his damn philosophy, he kept making him think too deeply into things.

* * *

 **I love Masambe, I can use him to make people think. Anyway, thank you for reading this, we reached 1,000 views just before I uploaded this part, Yay! Thank you all for reading my story, it means a lot that people are taking time to read the random shit that comes from the game, my mind, and a little bit of info from Google when I'm not sure on something.**


	18. Chapter 18: Ambushes and Badassery

**The first bit of this will be seen by someone else. I'll show it with Italics. A lot happened on a mission when I took out 'the B team', and I thought it would be fun to see things from another character's perspective. I may have other sections like this later if I think it fits, but not that often. It's still Maxim's story. I just didn't want to have a character describing what happened.**

* * *

 _ **Harold** **ducked** back behind the wall of the ship. The mission had started so well, they'd landed just in front of the ship, so no slog to find it, they'd set up in cover outside, and begun moving in, they'd encountered some Sectoid Commanders, taken 2 of them out, and the other one had run, they'd moved in a bit, then all hell broke lose. Apparently the aliens had been waiting in ambush. 3 Muton's, more heavily armoured than normal, and with bigger guns had run in from the back, followed by a massive bi-pedal robot with 2 drone accompanying it, as if that wasn't enough, 3 Floaters, similarly to the Muton's, more armoured and with bigger guns than normal. Ryo was outside the ship, taking shots from his cover with the plasma sniper rifle they'd gotten recently, Joe, Eva, and Chipo were all crouched behind a small wall on the ground, he was currently ducking behind the wall of the ship, reloading his shotgun, a new creation by the Engineering team, roughly the equivalent of plasma weaponry in power, but firing fragments of the alloy the aliens use, very deadly. The S.H.I.V unit that had come with them was inside the ship, drawing their fire so the soldiers could take shots in safety._

 _There was a loud explosion from inside, and Harold looked around the corner. The S.H.I.V unit was nothing but smoking rubble. He checked around, there was no cover he could get to that the aliens couldn't flank him from, so he put his shotgun away and took out his pistol, taking some shots, and destroying one of the drones. Chipo took out her rocket launcher, and damaged the robot, destroyed the other drone, and hurt a couple of the floaters._

 _"Spread out!" He shouted, the normal Muton's brought grenades to battles, so it was safe to assume these 'Elite' ones would as well._

 _Eva sprinted to the wall opposite him, taking a shot as she went, which finished off one of the damaged floaters. Ryo took a shot, destroying the other damaged floater._

 _"Smoke out" Joe called, as he took out one of the grenades that earned him his nickname, engulfing him and Chipo in smoke._

 _The aliens began their firing, beams of plasma flying over the heads of Joe and Chipo as the Muton's tried to hit them, but misjudged where they were in the smoke. The robot moved, looking like it was bracing itself against something, and a slot on it's back opened. Harold was worried about that, but didn't have the time to think about it before he heard a loud bang, and shouts of pain from next to him, he couldn't see clearly because of the smoke, but assumed one of the Muton's had thrown a grenade._

 _"Give me some cover!" He shouted, pointing to the Muton on the right side. Ryo and Eva both fired, Ryo's shot connected with it's helmet, and Eva's got it in the arm, but it didn't go down until it took another plasma bolt to the face from within the smoke cloud, as his brother followed his orders. A hail of plasma also came out, slamming into the robot, but doing little more than burning it's armour. Harold put pistol away, and took out his shotgun as he ran over to the wall that the Muton had been standing above, but he didn't use it yet, he turned to the Muton on the other side, and sent his anger at the alien, his own personal fling on the 'Mindfray' was to just use anger or some other strong emotion, and use that to fuel his powers. The alien roared and shook it's head, not dead, but clearly hurt, and, because of how it worked, disorientated, he was resting his hope on that preventing it from firing accurately. The alien raised it's gun, and fired at him, thankfully it didn't move, so he had a wall that covered him a bit, the alien also aimed too low, striking the ground with most of the hail, and the rest only connecting with the wall. He heard movement up above, and began getting ready to pull back, he didn't want to let an alien get above him, but was stopped by a loud whirring sound followed by dozens of loud booms, thankfully muffled by his tactical goggles. He glanced back to see the smoke dissipating, and Chipo lying on the ground, several feet further from where she'd been hiding, if not dead, then critically wounded. Joe appeared fine, apparently he'd been standing that few feet further that prevented, Harold was assuming it was a rocket barrage, by both the noise, and the scorch marks on the ground, from hitting him. Joe took out the med-kit and sprayed her, she dragged herself back to where she'd been, and Harold lost sight as she sat down behind the cover, but he was glad she was alive. Quickly he sprinted back to his last position by the wall outside, taking a pot shot at the Muton he'd Mindfrayed with his pistol, but missing. Ryo took a shot, striking the robot in the 'eye', it stumbled backwards, but was still up, until Chipo popped back up, opening up her LMG and spraying the robot with plasma, as he watched as the beams penetrated the armour weakened by the sniper shot, and turned away as it exploded. When he looked back, it was a smoking ruin in the ship. The S.H.I.V had someone to accompany it to Robot Hell now._

 _Harold was beginning to think they might be able to get out of this ambush. Shen would be pissed they'd broken the S.H.I.V, but they can always make another one. That was until he heard the beep, and saw the grenade come flying towards Joe and Chipo. He tried to shout a warning, but the alien had timed it perfectly, it reached the air between them, and detonated._

 _Rage filled him. He activated the stims in his suit. Engineering had made these a while ago, but he'd never used them before. Instantly he felt strength fill him, and felt 'the Red Veil' come over him, as it stimulated his body to release ungodly levels of Adrenaline into his system. He sprinted forwards into the open, no longer caring for his own safety with the pure rage filling him. He reached the middle of the room, and took a shot with his shotgun, the rain of shrapnel hit the alien in the face as it raised itself to take a shot at him, but didn't kill him. He heard rather than felt the shots the alien fired at him, he knew they were penetrating his armour, even though it was a new suit created by Shen, designed to withstand almost any punishment, but not feeling any pain, and not caring. He could hear the others taking shots, but also didn't care, all he felt was rage, and he let it fuel him. He focused his rage on the alien that had thrown the grenade, and killed it with the Mindfray, he sensed it's head explode, but couldn't see it as it's helmet blocked his view, and was disappointed at that. He felt more shots, but the stims kept fuelling his rage, he turned and sprinted over, crossing the hangar and getting right in front of the Floater than had shot him, he grabbed it with one hand as it tried to fly away "Don't fly away no little raven, we aren't finished_ _" as he jammed the muzzle of his shotgun into it's face, actually pushing the gun through the helmet with his enhanced strength, and blowing the aliens head into nothingness, covering him in the aliens green blood, enjoying the slight burning he felt as it connected with his bare face, before throwing the body away. He could feel the stims warring off, but, using his Psionics, he stimulated his mind himself. He looked around, the other aliens had been killed, but there was only 2 Muton corpses, and he heard a loud stomping above him. He gave chase. Running up the ramp, and out the alien 'door'. Seeing the interior of the ship, but running down the other ramp, towards the area the alien had run, he got to the middle of a hallway, and heard a plasma weapon firing up, he didn't even look over, but focused his rage, and killed it with his mind._

 _He heard a voice in his ears, and released his grip on the Psionic powers, finally allowing his mind to return to normal._

 _"-turn to base" he caught the end of Central's usual all clear, and turned, seeing Ryo and Eva standing behind him, looking shocked, he was about to say something when he say Joe come down the ramp at the back, and he pushed past them, and ran over to him, and wrapped his brother in a hug._

 _"I thought you'd died" he muttered, feeling utterly drained as the adrenaline drained out of him, and he began to feel the pain of his injuries_

 _"I almost did" Joe replied, Harold could hear the pain in his voice, both physical and emotional "Chipo wasn't as lucky"_

* * *

 **Maxim was** awoken by a loud Klaxon. "Oh come on" he complained. The Commander had said they'd be getting some time off, since they now had enough soldiers to form 2 teams, with the addition of one of the robot S.H.I.V units and Chipo, so 'The B team' had taken over the last couple missions, and 'The A team' were having a break from operations. Maxim took the opportunity to get a lie in. But apparently something was going on. He dragged himself to his feet, and went out of his room. He saw Aya in the corridor "What's going on?"

"The other team just came back from the mission"

"Well that's-"

"Something happened. Apparently it was an ambush"

"Oh shit"

"I came to get you. Come on Vampire" Aya turned and began walking off. Maxim followed

* * *

 _ **Harold was** exhausted, and he was suffering from dozens of plasma burns on his arms and chest. Joe had tried to give him a med-kit, but Harold insisted he was fine. The wounds weren't life-threatening, they just hurt like a bitch, and he was keeping most of the pain under wraps with his Psionics. Apparently the extra ability he'd gotten was the ability to just control his body functions, so he could release pain dampeners, and other body chemicals at will. Joe's injuries were a lot worse, it was a miracle he was still conscious. He'd survived the grenade only because of his armour, the right side of which was now a ruin, along with his skin, which was riddled with burns and shrapnel, there was a good chance he could lose the eye. They'd grabbed Chipo's body, and left immediately. Leaving the collection of the aliens to the scavenger team that came to the crash or landing sites. What a right fuck up of a mission. His first go at command, and they'd lost a S.H.I.V unit, and a soldier. The first X-COM soldier to die in action was under his command. He knew he should feel bad that he was thinking about his reputation rather than the dead woman, but he'd do that later, right now he'd rather not get into mourning. They were racing back to HQ as fast as the pilot could go, he didn't want Joe to collapse before they could get him to Rebecca._

* * *

 **"What happened?"** Maxim asked as he came into the Hangar, the door above was open, but the Skyranger wasn't here yet

"We don't know" Rebecca said, she was there with a few other medical staff, wielding IV stands, stretchers, and other medical equipment that Maxim didn't recognise "Harold just contacted us, said Joe was in critical condition, and they were coming back as fast as they could"

"That's it?"

"It didn't sound like he could explain much else. We'll get the details when they get here. All we know is the aliens had been waiting for them"

"It was an ambush?" Aya asked

"Apparently" Rebecca said

This was insane. They hadn't had a serious injury for over 3 months, they'd had some minor stuff of course, it's unavoidable, but now the group had been ambushed, and someone was in critical condition. This didn't happen at X-COM. Right?

"Here they come" Rebecca said. A loud noise could be heard in the distance, the Skyranger was approaching, and fast by the sound of it.

A minute later the Skyranger came into view above, lowering into the hole, faster than it normally did.

"Get back" the Commander shouted as he came in and saw in lowering. Everyone backed up, giving it extra room to land. The Skyranger slammed into the ground, the ramp lowering before it landed. Harold exited first, supporting Joe with an arm over his shoulder. Joe looked fine. Harold and Joe turned and headed over to Rebecca, and Maxim caught a glimpse of Joe's right side. It was burned and covered in shrapnel, his right eye was shut, and the armour was in shreds

"Holy crap" Maxim muttered. He was amazed Joe was still conscious, looking closer, he notice Harold's armour was also broken in dozens of places, his skin visible through it was burned horribly, he also had a few cuts on his face, they didn't appear to be bleeding, but they looked bad. He tore his gaze away, as he heard footsteps on metal, and saw Ryo (kind of disappointed), and Eva carrying a body on a sheet of metal. 4 of the medical staff ran over with a stretcher, and they moved the body of, Maxim just realized Chipo, onto an actual stretcher, and then ran past, on their way to the infirmary. Rebecca put an arm around Joe's shoulder from the other side, and she, and the rest of the staff made their way to the infirmary. Eva following behind, a slight limp as she followed. Ryo was the only one that stayed in the Hangar with the other soldiers and the Commander.

"What happened?" The Commander asked.

* * *

 **Aya's rival didn't last long did she. First mission I took her on and she got wrecked by a Sectopod. In the actual mission, I ran her back out of the way of the Sectopod, and Joe to the side by Eva. But Chipo got hit by the rocket volley. I honestly thought I'd moved her far enough to be out of the way, but she got smacked and taken down. I'm not playing Iron Man, but I am playing Honest Man. That was an error of judgment on my part, and an error the soldiers could make in real life, since that was the first time they met one of those. And honestly, that mission was crazy. I go into the ship, and the entire crew's in there waiting for me. In a normal game I would have called the games Bullshit, and reloaded a save so it was different, but since I'm doing a story, I thought that'd be a fun mission to write up. Harold's got some anger problems. I honestly have never used Combat Stims before, never saw much use, then this shit happened. And Harold went full tank of their ass. He was getting shot by Elite Mutons, and taking 3 damage. I love them now. Harold's keeping them.**


	19. Chapter 19: Yet more Psionics

**Yay! XCOM 2 came on sale on steam. So once this is complete, an XCOM 2 one will be out rather quickly. There won't be many more missions here, it sped up to the end rather quickly. I'll end this one part after the final mission of the game, for some rounding off, and a set-up for the next part (It will be the same world, with a few character's returning, but for the most part it will be new characters. I have 3 character's planned to return, but it could be less, depends on if they die or not in the final mission). Really excited for the ending of this, and the start of the next one, but I'm not going to rush it. And I'm going to hold off playing the last mission until I reach it in the story.**

* * *

 _ **"How's he** looking doc?" Harold asked Rebecca as she came out of the operating room. She'd been in there for over 5 hours, Harold sitting outside for the entire time._

 _"He's stable" Rebecca replied_

 _"He'll be alright?"_

 _"He'll survive" Rebecca replied, taking a few seconds before she continued "But. He, won't be, entirely, there"_

 _"What?"_

 _"I don't know how to explain it, so I'll just be blunt. He left side suffered extreme damage from the blast. We weren't able to save the eye, and we're going to have to amputate the arm and leg"_

 _"So, he'll be crippled"_

 _"Yes" She seemed to think for a second "But, Dr. Shen did send me a message about, alternatives"_

 _"Alternatives?"_

 _"The Engineering team have been working on some prototypes recently"_

 _"Prototype what? Just say it"_

 _"Well, we may be able to give Joe some, cybernetic implants to replace his limbs"_

 _"Cybernetic? You mean, robot limbs"_

 _"Essentially, yes"_

 _"Why haven't you done it yet then?_ _"_

 _"Well, we had to get him stable first. And we need consent, since he can't give it in his current state, you-"_

 _"Of course. If Joe was conscious he'd agree immediately"_

 _"However. If you'd let me finish, I need to explain that there may be, complications"_

 _"Like what?"_

 _"Like I said, they're prototypes, they haven't been tested before, so there's a possibility something could go wrong with them, which could kill him, or damage him further"_

 _"So, he'll either be blind in one eye, and have no use of his left side, or get new parts, allowing him to live like before, but they could backfire?"_

 _"Essentially, yes. Some of the Engineering team are coming up to help attach them, and we'd like to get started as soon as possible. We just need your say-so"_

 _Harold thought for a second, if it backfired, and killed him, he'd never forgive himself for getting him killed. But if he could live normally?_

 _"Can't you wait until he wakes up?"  
_ _"Unfortunately, no. It could be several weeks before he wakes up on his own. By that time the wounds from the amputations would be healed, and attaching the cybernetics will be impossible"_

 _"Why?"_

 _"We need to attach them to fresh nerves, and if we amputate, we have to end off the nerves, which would make it impossible to attach them"_

 _Harold took a deep breath "Do it"_

 _"Of course" She turned to the door, just as a group of men and women came in, wheeling a box between them. "Excellent. Right on time. Harold. This will take along time. You should get some rest, you're still recovering from your injuries"_

 _"Right" Harold began walking off, wondering if he would be able to get to sleep._

* * *

 **"How's Joe?"** Maxim asked Harold. They were in the Psionics training area, testing out some new abilities they'd developed. Maxim and Keith had learned how to create physical barriers with their Psionics, which was fun, and Harold had learned how to, how did he put it, 'make the aliens shit themselves'.

"He'll survive. But, he's going to need some serious... Augments"

"Augments?" Maxim asked

"Cybernetic limbs" Keith replied

"Woah. Seriously?"

"Yes. A leg and an arm, as well as an arm, and some implants into his left lung"

"Damn. Joe's gunna be a cyborg"

"My brother's not a robot!" Harold said, turning away from the alien he'd been 'Panicking', he sounded actually angry

"I never said he was. I said cyborg. A robot is pure machine, a Cyborg is a human with robot parts, which is exactly-"

"I don't care. Don't call him that again!" Maxim saw a purple haze burst out of him, and the alien's head exploded. It was a good thing he had control over those powers.

"Woah. Sorry. Sorry. I didn't mean anything by it" Maxim put his hands up.

"Enough" Keith put himself between the 2, putting his hands out. "Technically Maxim is correct, Cyborg would be the term for what Joe will be when he wakes up" Maxim saw the purple glow around Harold's head flare up again, and put up his psionic barrier in his mind in case he did a head-exploding thing again "However, he also shouldn't call him that if it upsets you. He has apologised. Now, let's get back to this"

Harold gave Maxim one last glare, then turned back to another alien chained against the wall (After Harold had killed quite a few, they'd just brought in a bunch of them)

"Thanks" Maxim whispered to Keith

"No worries. Just be careful, he's been on edge lately"

"I noticed"

* * *

 **"Maxim Popov** and Keith Taylor, report to Engineering immediately"

Maxim jumped out of bed as he heard this call over the speakers, he'd been in the middle of a game, but practically dropped it as he ran out. The announcer never sounded that urgent. He was about to open the door, when he realized he was in his boxers. Quickly throwing on the first shirt and trousers he could find, he ran out the door. Heading for engineering, realizing half-way there that his shirt was on backwards, and fixing it as he ran.

"Max!" Keith's voice shouted from behind him. Maxim turned, but couldn't see anything through his shirt

"Keith?"

"What are you doing?"

"Fixing my shirt" Maxim got his shirt on properly "Do you know what's going on?"

"No"

"Well. That's not good"

"Come on" Keith ran past, and Maxim ran to catch up

* * *

 **"Get in"** The Engineer said, pointing to an elevator behind him. Maxim and Keith didn't stop to question it, and hopped in. The Engineer followed behind them, and slid a card down a scanner, the doors closed, and the elevator began moving downwards.

"What's going on" Keith and Maxim asked at the same time

"Do you know that device we recovered from the alien base?"

"The massive thing with the light coming from it?"

"That's the one. Well, we've been working on it, and we've used it to create what Dr. Vahlen is calling the 'Hyperwave Beacon'"

"What about it?" Keith asked

"Well. We finished it yesterday, and began testing it. And, it seems to be, overloading"

"What?"

"That's why we're getting you 2 down there. If it explodes you should be able to contain the explosion"

"But, we just got these powers"

"We know. But we haven't got much choice right now"

The elevator came to a stop, and the doors opened. Revealing a huge room, with a massive device in the middle, and dozens of engineers running around it, or sat at monitors.

"Maxim, Keith, come over here" The Commander said, waving them over "Did John tell you what's going on?"

"That thing's overloading and may go boom" Maxim said

"Essentially. Shen's saying we should shut it down. But Vahlen's insisting we let it go on. You guys are here in case Vahlen's wrong"

"What do you want us to do?" Keith asked

"How big a field can you make?"

"I don't know" Maxim said "We just started training these"

"If you can, create a field around it. If you can't, cover the door, at least we can prevent it from damaging the rest of HQ"

"This is a lot of pressure" Maxim said, looking at the massive device

"I know. But it's got to be done. You can do it"

Maxim kept looking at the device, put a hand on Keith's shoulder. Maxim felt a presence in his mind, but knew it was Keith from times they'd practiced this, melding their psionic abilities together. While they did this, they became 1 mind in 2 bodies. It was extremely disorientating the first few times they'd done it, but he was used to it now. They focused, and a slight purple glow began around the device, visible only to them. It wasn't that powerful, with only 2 minds to power it, they couldn't cover the entire device with enough strength.

 _"We'll have to just cover the doors"_ Keith's side said telepathically

 _"Maybe- Wait"_ Maxim's body looked at the commander, and placed a hand on his shoulder. "This will be disorientating" Both bodies said as one, and they melded the Commander's mind into them, adding him to the power. They saw a slight increase in intensity. It didn't require psionic potential to join in this and add power, they just needed the mental capacity to handle it.

 _"This is strange"_ The Commander said.

 _"It won't last long. We just needed the extra mental capacity. You're helping us maintain the barrier"_ Both Keith and Maxim said as one. It was impossible to tell whether they were using 1 or 2 voices.

"Wait. That's it" Vahlen said, just as the alarms died down, the monitors nearby stopped flashing, and the machine grew quieter.

Maxim and Keith released the connection, sliding back into their own bodies. Maxim always felt strangely empty afterwards, and knew he'd feel strange for a few hours, before his mind re-adjusted to be singular again. He'd start getting small bit's of memories from Keith and The Commander, not much, but enough to confuse his memories, he really wasn't looking forward to sorting those memories out, he had a childhood memory of Keith's, it was very strange to have a deep, meaningful memory of people you'd never met.

"Thank you" The Commander said, smiling "That was an interesting experience. You can go back to whatever you were doing"

"Oh shit" Maxim exclaimed, running back to the elevator

"What is it?" Keith asked, as he sprinted over to join him before it took off

"I forgot to pause"

* * *

 **Sorry it's a bit short. But that just felt like the perfect line to end a part on. We've got 2 missions before the final battle. But there will probably be around 4, maybe 5, more parts before the final mission battle, then 1 more part after that. Thank you for reading my story, and for sticking with me all the way to here. We're approaching the end, but we still have a bit to go before this is over. Again, sorry this is a bit short. But the parts with battles will be longer. And the final mission part is going to be long as fuck.**


	20. Chapter 20: Mini-Boss Encounter

**"So, we're** going to clear out the ship that we had never even seen before a few weeks ago, after taking it down with a ship they made just the week before, and we're going with just the 6 of us, and Karl is using a new set of armour?" Maxim asked in the skyranger, as they made their way towards said location. William, Karl, Masambe, Keith, Aya, and Himself were heading there.

"Yep" Karl said from across, looking quite happy. He'd gotten the new 'Ghost' armour, which was a lot slimmer than everyone else's, and allowed him to become invisible for a short time.

"You see, this sounds like that level where you're just playing it thinking, 'Why am I doing this on foot. We should just nuke the place'. Why don't they just bring more ships over here, and just blow it to hell for a few hours. Then the cleaning crew can come in"

"Because then we'd never know what was on the ship" William replied "And you know Vahlen's going to want a closer look at the commander of this ship"

"I guess. Still seems like a dumb idea"

"We've faced worse" Aya said

"When?"

"Every time we encounter the aliens" Masambe replied

"Fair enough"

* * *

 **"Everyone spread** out. Move towards the ship" William said as they exited the skyranger. The ship was very clearly right in front of them, just a few walls, and a bit of rubble between them.

Maxim moved up, getting behind a tree "Fielding" before focusing, and releasing his Psionics in a nova, but maintaining it, rather than letting it go, creating a 'Telekinetic field', which absorbs energy from things coming into the field, but not going out of it, just in-case something came running out of the ship. He could only maintain this power for a few minutes, but it should be just as effective in not getting shot as hiding behind a boulder. So if they ducked behind a boulder in a field, it should be almost impossible for them to be hit. He also, if he focused, could make the field visible to non-psionic people, he did so, allowing them to see where the protection ended. Masambe moved through the field, stopping just at the edge of it, and ducking behind a wall "Mutons" he called out, Maxim only saw 1, the other had obviously ran around the other side of the cliff, they were the big fuckers Harold had encountered, these ones actually wore helmets, and had a lot more armour. Maxim saw the purple glow showing Masambe was using Psionics, and the Muton stumbled, but didn't fall. As he did so Keith ran over next to him, and did the same, the combination of mental assaults caused it to fall over, but it did so behind a wall it was running to.

"Stealthing" Karl called. Maxim glanced over, and could see Karl moving towards the cliff, able to see him only because of his Psionic vision, and even with that, only seeing him as a light purple haze in a roughly human shape. Damn that armour was good, Maxim needed Keith to give him a go with it. Maxim turned back towards the Muton he could see, but stopped raising his rifle as William unloaded at the alien, driving it even deeper into cover, and clipping it's helmet as he did so. Suddenly Aya ran past, no idea what she'd been doing, and, engaging the jets to jump over a plasma ball fired from behind the cliff, taking cover behind a chunk of rubble near the alien, the Star-Thrower in hand.

"Got it" Karl said, and Maxim looked up to see him, visible now, behind a fallen tree, and a Muton with 2 smoking holes in it, one in the chest, one in the head, slumped behind him. At this point the Psionic energies dissipated, the Telekinetic field drifting off.

The Muton tried to fire at them, but the supressing fire prevented it from doing more than poking the gun around the rock and firing wildly, and this spraying stopped as Aya appeared next to it, brought up the Star-Thrower, and the Muton stiffened, and dropped to the floor next to the 'door' of the ship.

"Head to the door. Typical formation. Rest and Reload" William called, as he moved up to some rubble near the door.

Maxim moved around from his tree, and began jogging towards the boulder Aya had been behind earlier, and was about to reload when he realized he hadn't actually taken a shot that fight, and watched the others get into position and reload. He looked at the ship. It didn't look that impressive. A bit bigger than the normal ones, sure, but still a lot smaller than the cargo ships they took down occasionally. It didn't look much different, it didn't even have flames painted on it. Red makes things go Fasta.

Aya lead the way in as usual, followed by Karl, then the others, Maxim staying in his position for a few moments. "Clear" Aya called. Maxim moved up, taking position by the door. The inside looked the same as the other ships, computer terminal in front of them against the wall, some weird things next in the 'entrance', and 2 corridors. Maybe it was a bit bigger, but that was about it. The aliens clearly weren't into ostentation. Maxim shook his head, he was getting into little details again, he kept doing this, why? It wasn't like it was some random ladder with no reason to be-. No, stop it, focus. He paid attention again, just as a massive robot came around the corner up ahead, and 2 of the little drone things they'd met before. One of those massive machines Harold's group had encountered, a 'Sectopod'. How'd it get that name. No. Stop it. He shook his head to clear the last dregs of those thoughts out, and get back into focus, just as William and Masambe launched rockets, William firing down the hallway towards the Sectopod, and Masambe firing out a hole in the wall, through which Maxim saw another Sectopod, as well a couple of it's own drones. William's rocket cleared out the hallway, taking out the corner wall leading inside, and Maxim heard a roar, but couldn't see inside. The drones with the first Sectopod were destroyed, and it was leaking oil and sparks (Not a good combination). One of the drones with the other Sectopod had avoided the blast, and the Sectopod itself didn't seem as badly damaged either. Maxim saw something green fly towards the Sectopod Masambe and fired at, and recognised it was a grenade just as it blew up, taking out the other drone, and further damaging the Sectopod. Masambe tried to take a shot, but he could only get vision of the one Masambe had shot at, and only it's leg, so didn't think he could do much damage anyway, he hopped inside, dropping behind one of the things in the entrance, and focusing, creating the Telekinetic field again, this time not bothering to make it visible since they were so close together anyways. Aya moved around, almost going outside, and fired a shot towards the Sectopod Masambe had fired at first. Karl popped up, and fired, a loud roar from inside was cut short, and Maxim guessed Karl had dropped a Muton inside. There was a whirring sound, different than the sound of an LMG, and a massive red beam fired towards Aya, but it didn't reach her, as it got thinner, and faded as it entered the field, another laser was fired from the same position, but it achieved similar results, losing power and dissipating in the Psionic protection, Maxim felt kinda smug to have absorbed the shots of one of those Sectopod fuckers. Aya ran back over, red lights going through the wall that had been there, but had apparently fallen down, either a bit of the energy from the Sectopod hit it, or the fire weakened it enough. She ducked down behind the bit of wall remaining after the Rocket's, firing at the Sectopod now revealed by the missing wall, striking straight in the 'head' of the robot with a hail of shrapnel from her 'shotgun'. The robot stumbled, then fell forward onto said 'face', and blew up. "New guy and 2 Muton's" Aya called, and Maxim turned to see 2 Mutons standing where there had been a wall, one almost right over Aya, and a stranger alien. It was extremely thin, almost looking like a skeleton, with grey, wrinkled flesh, 4 arms, and some strange robes covering it's torso and legs, if it even had legs, it had a helmet on, at least, Maxim assumed it was a helmet, which was pure white, except for an area that looked like a speaker, the grille of the helmet, it didn't seem to have any eye holes. But none of that really drew Maxim's attention, what he saw was a massive concentration of the purple glow signifying Psionics, not just around it's head, but around it's entire body, almost making it difficult to see, so he disengaged his psionic vision, dulling it to a light glow. "It's got insane Psi Levels".

"Got it" William said, turning, rocket launcher in hand "Move back" Masambe and Maxim moved back a bit to give him room, everyone else already being significantly far away to not get hit by it. William fired. The 2 Mutons stumbled forward, but grabbed onto things before they fell off the platform, their aim put off by the blast, buying them a few more seconds before they fired, the 4 armed alien spread out 2 of it's hands as the rocket came towards it, and it seemed unharmed by the blast, and Maxim saw only a slight drop in the glow. It must be powerful if it can block a rocket and only lose a bit of force from it's barrier. "Fielding" Keith said, and Maxim saw the glow come out showing the field. The Sectopod down the corridor moved to the side a bit, absorbing the shot that Karl fired into it's side. Masambe raised his LMG, and began spraying over the 4 armed alien and the Muton. The Muton dropped to the floor to avoid the spray, and the 4 armed alien raised 2 of it's hands, and the plasma bolts firing towards it were reflected up into the roof as they approached. Masambe spraying to keep the in those positions. Maxim noticed that William was in the open, and quickly Mindfrayed the Alien closest to him. There was still one left over than wasn't supressed or Mindfrayed, that would have a clear shot, but he had Titan armour, he could take 1 shot. There was the whirring of the Sectopod again, but again the lasers dissipated within the field. The Muton not currently supressed or Mindfrayed recovered from the blast, raised it's gun, and fired at William, who brought up the Rocket Launcher in his hand, and caught the ball with the weapon. The end of the Launcher dropped to the floor, sizzling, and William dropped the other bit before pulling out a grenade (This guy carried a lot of explosives on him. Maxim decided to get away from William should fire ever get near him). The Other Muton was currently trying to get out from under the supressing fire, and the other one was holding it's head and stumbling around a bit, apparently it was very weak-willed, and the 4 armed alien continued to stand there, reflecting the Supressing fire into the roof. William launched his grenade. The Muton stumbling about caught the blast full In the face as it wrenched off the helmet just as it landed, the face disappearing into a mush of shrapnel, bone, blood, and shredded flesh, and dropping to the floor. The other one, keeping it's helmet on, stumbled backwards a bit, but didn't fall.

There was a loud explosion, and Maxim looked over to see the Sectopod drop to the ground and explode. Maxim quickly turned back, and put the Muton in his scope, firing a bolt into it's weakened helmet. Before it had even dropped, he turned and pumped a shot into the Muton getting up off the ground, nailing it right in the chest. Masambe continued his rain of fire on the Ethereal, Aya ran over next to Keith and Maxim. Maxim felt a calm and focus come over him, as Keith used what Maxim called 'Inspiration' to focus his and Aya's mind against Psionic attacks from the alien. Maxim could see the faint glow of Karl approaching the alien from behind, in stealth. "Try and capture it" William said, as the Alien turned to look at him. William stumbled backwards, but was fine. There was 2 consecutive thuds, as the Muton's Masambe had killed finally dropped to the ground. Maxim fired a shot, striking one of the alien's hands as it brought it's other 2 hands up to block the shots being fired at it by the rest of the group. Yellowish blood sprayed out of it at an insane rate, spraying out like a hose. "It's barrier's down". It raised it's 3 unwounded hands, and pointed at William. William flew backwards into the wall, denting it, and dropped to the ground. As William hit the ground, the alien fell to the ground, and Aya appeared behind it, putting the Star-Thrower away.

"Confirmed, all hostiles down and the area is clear" Central said over the coms, confirming they'd killed all nearby aliens

"You alright Crash" Maxim asked, going over to where William had hit the ground after being launched by the alien.

"I'm fine. Armour absorbed the worst of it" William grunted as he got up. His armour was dented in the chest where he'd hit the wall, not enough that it'd be hurting him, but enough that it would be awkward and irritating until he got it off

"You appear fine" Keith said, giving him a quick once over "But that attack was psionic in nature. Vampire, see anything? You're more sensitive to it than me"

Maxim engaged psionic vision again, and looked at him, there was a slight glow of fading psionic usage around his person, nothing signifying a lasting effect "Nothing I can see. But it could have done something inside, I can't see through the armour"

"Well then, let's head back" William said "Psycho, bring the new guy, the clean up crew's needed here for the Sectopod's and the ship anyway. And they'll need to get that thing" he motioned towards a strange device that Maxim hadn't noticed before. It was large, about the height a person at the highest part, and a few feet across. Box shaped at the bottom, but becoming a thinner curve at the back, with a large silver-ish ball floating by the top of the curve bit, it had a slight purple glow, like it was psionic, but that could just be a left over from the Psionics used nearby. He had a strange feeling to touch it, but resisted, having played too many games to know to not touch that strange glowy thing that you find in the enemy base.

"You feel that?" Keith asked

"Feel what?"

"Like you should touch it"

"Yeah"

"Whirr? You feel it?"

"Yes"

"Psycho, Crash, Spray, do you feel like you want to touch it?"

"No" Aya replied

"Nope" Karl said

"Not particularly" William said

"It might be something psionic in nature then" Keith said "It would be best if those of us with psionic abilities avoid close proximity to this thing, just to be safe"

"Of course" William replied "Come on, let's get out of here. I'm going to get a rash if I keep this on too long"


	21. Chapter 21: Flight and Fright

**"You've got** me, right?" Maxim asked. He was standing on the top of X-COM HQ with Aya, they were both wearing their armour, but not their weapons.

"I wont drop you" Aya reassured him. They'd decided to try flying again. He'd enjoyed the first time, when they were in the armoury, but was worried about this time, they were going to be a lot higher, hence why he was wearing his armour, so if he did drop, he could not become a red smear on the ground.

"Promise?"

"Why are you worried? Your armour will absorb the impact regardless"

"I still don't like being dropped from 10 stories up"

"You don't have to do this if you don't want to"

"No. I want to, I'm just getting the jitters"

"Well come on, we haven't got all day"

Maxim moved closer so he was almost nose to nose with her, well, nose to eyes, he was an inch or 2 taller. She wrapped her arms around his waist, and he did the same to her. Aya engaged the jets, and the flew upwards, slower than last time, but still at a fast past. As they got higher she slowed the rise, eventually coming to a stop. Once they'd stopped, Maxim took his head away from her shoulder where he'd stuck it while they went up, he wasn't sure if he'd done that from nerves or the G-Force pushed his head there. He looked around. He'd never really seen the area around HQ before, they were underground, so he couldn't see through windows, there weren't windows in the Skyranger, and he'd been too worried on his flight to HQ the first time to take in the scenery, he wasn't even sure what country they were in. The area was mostly grassland ahead of them, with a forest in the distance, a mountain behind them, which was used to conceal the base. They were really high up, he began to feel nauseous. He turned from looking down, and instead just ended up looking at Aya as she looked around. Her hair was being whipped around by the wind and the jets, even though she kept it short-ish. The scar on her face was really visible, all the skin from the edge of her lip up to her forehead was covered in a burn scar, her ear had a bit of a burn on it, but not as much as the rest, the burn almost hit her eye, but just went around it, she still had both eye-brows, which was kind of impressive. Just as Maxim was noting the eyebrow, he noticed Aya wasn't looking around anymore, and he shifted his view back down to the scenery, feeling his face heat up.

"What?" Aya asked

Maxim looked back up to see her looking at him curiously. "Uh, I, uh" He couldn't think of any excuse as for why he was looking at her, even though he'd planned a few before he started looking, he was just drawing a blank.

"Do you find me attractive?"

Maxim nearly slipped from the suddenness of the question. His mind racing 'Is it a trap? Is she messing with me? But she's a psychopath, she wouldn't do that right? How does it work?' Eventually he settled on "Uhhhh". He didn't even know how to answer it. Did he? He hadn't really considered it before, he never really looked at, well, anyone, that way .

"Well?"

"What?"

"Do you find me attractive"

"It's, uh, that's, a bit, sudden don't you think"

"Is this not the right scenery for it?"

"Uh"

"You say that a lot. Answer my question"

"I, I don't, I never. I don't know. I've never thought"

"Then think now. We have about 10 minutes more before we have to go back down"

Maxim looked, he didn't know what else to do. They were too close together, so he couldn't do a 'Up and down', but he wouldn't do that anyway. So he just ended up looking into her face. She defiantly wasn't traditionally feminine, the massive scar ruined any chance of that, but then, Maxim was never a traditional guy. Without realizing it he triggered his Psionic vision, and found himself looking at her skeleton. That was rather disturbing, so he stopped it. Shaking his head to get the memory out. It's difficult to look at someone normally when you've seen their skeleton. He ended up staring into her eyes. He liked eyes. When he was bored he often ended up just staring at his own eyes in a mirror, not in a vain way, just in a, they're interesting way. Without even realizing he was speaking he said "Yes".

After a few seconds Aya said "Well?"

"Well what?"

"Aren't you going to ask if I find you attractive?"

"Uh" Maxim was struck by the fact that the person with a condition that makes them almost incapable of identifying emotions, was better at this conversation than he was. "Do, do you find me attractive?"

"Yes"

They floated in silence for a few minutes, Maxim feeling extremely awkward, and feeling like his face was going to melt, and trying to look at anything by Aya.

"Would you like to have sex"

This time Maxim did slip. He lost his grip on her waist immediately, and slipped down a few inches before he realized they were a few hundred feet off the ground, and he regained his grip. He face in her stomach. Could this get any more awkward. He suddenly felt a jerk, and was back face-to-face. She'd done the thing they did when he'd slipped a bit before, dropping down to be at his level. Well, it was a bit less awkward at least. "Did, did you just say"

"Would you like to have sex, with me"

"Here?"

"Of course not. We only have 4 minutes of fuel left" Not even a hint of irony in her voice.

"That's, that's, that's a bit of a sudden question don't you think?"

"Why not. We both find each other attractive. We have stressful occupations, and it is a pleasurable experience"

"You make it sound like science"

"It is a science, technically"

"Kinda kills the mood though"

"Just answer me. Would you like to have sex"

"Uh. I, I don't know how to answer that"

"Well, yes or no would be a start"

"That's not. I. Can I tell you something, personal?"

"Sure"

"I've, I've never-"

"Vampire, are you a virgin?"

"Well, uh. Yes"

"And you need to be married first?"

"No. No, it's not. I'm not religious"

"Then what is the questionable part here?"

"Well. I don't want my first time to just be some 'Hook-up'. I'd want it to actually, mean something"

"How would it not mean something?"

"What"

"Well. You're first time would be memorable anyways, and then the fact that it is with a woman you are attracted to, have known for, 8 months now, and after free-flying, would make it a memorable experience regardless of what would happen afterwards"

"But. I just don't want my first time to be a one-night stand"

"When did I say it would be a one-night thing?"

"Well, I, from the bluntness and the fact that you are, you know"

"A psychopath?"

"Well, ya. You don't form normal attachments right?"

"Not in the normal way. It is a cognitive basis in our relationships. For instance, spending time with you is an enjoyable experience, therefore I wish to spend time with you more often. Sex is an enjoyable action"

"You're making it into a science lesson"

"That is the only way I know how to explain it. We have 2 minutes of fuel. Do you want to decide now?"

"... Yes. Yes i'd like to have sex with you"

* * *

 **"Hey Max"** Karl said as Maxim walked into the 'Lounge'. There were big arcade games along one wall, a pool table, a foosball table, an air-hockey table, and a few couches and chairs around T.V's and/or tables. He didn't spend much time in here, he had better games in his room. He would set up his games system in here. But he was worried someone would break it. Karl was currently engaged in what looked like a serious game of air-hockey with Eva. He decided not to interrupt, Karl looked pretty into it, and instead he sat down on one of the chairs to watch.

A few minutes later Karl threw his arms in the air, emitting a whoop as he won the game. Eva smiled and headed off towards one of the T.V's. Karl turned around, heading over to Maxim, then stopped as he saw him properly "You had sex didn't you?"

"What"

"You had sex. Recently"

"How. How can you tell?"

"Never mind that. Who? How? When?"

"Can we, discuss this, somewhere private"

"Oh, yeah"

Maxim lead Karl back to his room. As soon as Karl closed the door behind him he resumed bombarding Maxim with questions "C'mon man, tell me. Who. I know it wasn't Eva, she's been with me all day"

"Well. It was Aya"

Karl stopped and looked at him "Seriously?"

"Yes"

"Aya? The Psychopath of the group?"

"Yes"

"How?"

"Well, we were doing that free-flight thing we'd been talking about doing. Just flew a few hundred feet up with Aya's Archangel armour. Then she just asked me if I found her attractive"

"Just straight up?"

"Yeah"

"What'd you say?"

"I said I'd never thought about it. But she made me answer. So I said yes"

"Damn"

"That's not even the strangest bit. After that she just straight up asked me If I wanted to have sex"

"Woah. Aya be horny"

"No. She didn't seem like she'd be bothered either way"

Karl held up his hand for a high-five

"I'm not done" Maxim said, ignoring the hand

"Oh" Karl lowered his hand "Well, what else is there?"

"Well, that was. I'd never-"

"Holy crap. Max, was that your first time"

Maxim didn't answer, he could feel his face heating again

"Damn man. You're like 28, 29 right?"

"27, but, yeah"

"How were you a virgin?"

"I'd just. I'd never met the right girl"

"And Aya-"

"I don't know. I told her I didn't want my first time to end up as a one-night thing and-"

"Holy crap"

"Will you let me finish"

"Sorry"

"Well. She said it doesn't need to be a one-night thing"

"Wait so, is Aya you're, girlfriend, now"

"I don't know"

"What?"

"Well. She said we could, do it, again, but, you know, I don't think it's going to be a, relationship"

"So, friends with benefits?"

"I, I think something like that"

"Nice" he put his hand up for a high-five

"No. Not nice" Ignoring the hand again "I, I don't know what to do"

"Are you asking me for advice?"

"Maybe"

"You're asking _Me_ , for relationship advice?"

"Uh"

"Probably not the best idea"

"Why?"

"Well. I'm not exactly a relationship guy"

"Seriously?"

"Nope. If you've ever seen Friends, the T.V show, I'm basically Joey"

"I came to Joey for relationship advice?"

"Afraid so"

"Well, that's just great"

"Hey, don't worry. You'll be fine"

"How, how am I going to be fine. I have no idea what I'm-"

"Look. You're you. You're the nice guy. It's getting the girl that's the problem, not keeping them. You'll be fine. It might not be a normal relationship, she is a psychopath after all, but it's a relationship, and, from the sounds of it, a great one"

"Thanks"

"Now come on. Tell me what happened"

"Well-"

* * *

 ** _"How you_** _feeling_ _?" Harold asked as Joe limped out of the operating room. His left arm and leg now a metallic silvery colour, and emitted a slight whirring sound as he moved them, he was completely bald on his head, and only had 1 eyebrow, and extreme burn and cut scars on the left side of his face, still fairly fresh as well. His left eye didn't move as he looked around, Rebecca said it would take him a few days before he could control it.  
_

 _"Not great" Joe's voice was slightly more gravely now, a result of damage to his larynx. "But I'll live"_

 _"How are your new limbs?"_

 _"A bit stiff. But they said that'll go away in a few days" he tapped the eye "And this should start working soon"_

 _"Good to see you in one piece"_

 _"Well, relatively"_

 _Harold laughed "Come on, let's get you to your room"_

 _"Good idea"_

* * *

 **Thank you for reading, and for sticking with it this far. We're reaching the end here, so thank you for keeping with this. I'm not good at, and not entirely comfortable with, describing a sex scene, so I decided to leave it up to your imagination, I'm sure it would be better than anything I could write up, I know I rated it M, but that was just to be safe, since I've had quite a lot of swears, and some gore, and violence, I could probably reduce the rating, but, meh, we're almost at the end, so it's kind of redundant at this point.**


	22. Chapter 22: Mind Over Matter

**Sorry that this one took a bit longer than usual. I've been a bit busy recently. I'll try and get this finished before I go back to school, but it might end up taking a bit longer.**

* * *

 **"Operatives Maxim** Popov, William Ward, Joe Sanders, Aya Haidar, Masambe Digkale, and Harold Sanders, please report to the hangar"

"Every time!" Maxim complained. There was still almost 8 minutes left on the match. "They never call me when it's searching for a match" he turned off the console and got up.

"Hey Max" Karl said, he was heading down the corridor

"Oh, hey. You heading to the bar?"

"Yep, and you gotta go on a mission thing"

"Yeah, but you gotta do the bar thing without Aya"

"Aw man. Didn't think of that. Well, I gotta figure out how to make my drinks like Aya does"

"Well, good luck with that. I'm gonna go shoot some aliens in the face"

"Kill one for me"

"Make me"

* * *

 **"Woah, cool** armour" Maxim said, Masambe and Harold were wearing some new suit, it was considerably thinner than the other suits, even thinner than Maxim's own suit, which was designed to be as light as possible, and looked considerably sleeker, he could also see a thin line of purple running thought the armour, like a circuit, running from the helmet around the suit, then back to the helmet, without knowing how he knew, Maxim could tell that this psionic line was designed to re-bound the psionic energy back into them, allowing them to use their abilities more efficiently, and also created a thin veil around them, protecting them from outside psionic's "Damn. That's some serious psionic tech"

"Yeah" Harold said "Not very tough, but we can just wreck those aliens with our abilities now"

"Commander said he wants us to test out our capabilities with psionics in this armour" Masambe replied

"Why don't I get one?"

"Because you're too far back to be able to use the abilities efficiently most of the time, your skeleton suit is really useful for you, and creating these suits is extremely difficult, so they wanted to equip them to only Harold and I, since we are the offensive psionic-users"

"Sorry, mister science, i'll shut my mouth"

"Alright, enough chit chat, let's get going" Harold shouted out, he was already inside the skyranger, strapped into his seat

"A little eager" Maxim said

"He's been like this since the ambush incident. Perhaps the combat stims have caused some kind of-"

"La la la la" Maxim covered his ears and shook his head "Stop scienceing me. I preferred just philosophical Masambe, stop being science"

"Sorry. I'll leave the science to Vahlen"

"Thanks"

"Who's got the stealth suit this time?"

"Joe"

"Ooh. We have a stealth cyborg now?"

"Apparently, yes. But be careful using the C-Word"

"I never used the C-Wo-"

"Not that. Don't call Joe a cyborg, Harold doesn't like it"

"Oh yeah. Sorry"

"Don't be sorry, just be quiet"

"o.k" Maxim whispered

* * *

 **"Vampire, to** the high ground" William said as the exited the skyranger

"Why another bloody forest" Maxim thought. None of them have been shot down in a field, or a town, or, something, anything but another bloody forest. But he did as William said, and grappled up to the plateau, getting behind a log.

"Smoke, stealth ahead" Joe shimmered, and then disappeared. But, again, Maxim could see the purple glow around him, he kept an eye on him as he went, and scanned the area with psionic vision. Nope. Why did the aliens never hide behind tree's or bushes. It's like they knew he could see them. The other's of the squad began to advance towards the ship wreck he could see in the distance, though his view of it was blocked by tree's, he could see through them, but not fire through them, he'd have to move before they entered the ship.

"3 Mutons. At the side-door" Joe whispered into the com's. Whispering wasn't really necessary, they helmet would block his voice from being heard anway, but it would probably feel strange to be stealthing and just talking normally. "3 more just showed up. First group went back in. Looks like they're on patrol routes or something"

"I can't get a view from here. Moving" Maxim said, noticing another plateau bit a bit further up, it was a bit too far to grapple, so he hopped down from the ledge, and began running towards it. Stopping by a tree to grapple. He heard a loud roar and turned to see 2 Mutons, running to cover behind some logs. And a Berserker, running straight for him "OH SHIT. ZERKER!" One of the muton's popped off a shot at him, but he ducked and it flew over his head. Just as the berserker reached him, and Maxim began wondering if his telekinetic field could repel melee attacks, the Berserker suddenly stopped running, stiffened, turned, and began charging at the Mutons, leaving behind a faint purple glow. Realizing what was going on, one of them had take control of the berserker's mind, he jumped over the log, getting cover between him and the Mutons, and hit one with a Mindfray

"Overheating" Joe called, as his stealth field ran too hot from over-use, and shut itself off, and set off the 3 mutons near him. One of the aliens roared as he hit it with the plasma rifle, followed by a grunt from Joe as he caught a plasma ball in his cyborg arm. Maxim turned from the Muton's. The berserker could take care of them easily, and moved over to another tree to get cover between him and the 'elite' Mutons. "Rocket out" William called, as he fired a rocket at the group, but, in a rare occasion for the demolitions expert, he aimed the tube a bit too high, and the rocket struck the ground a bit too far back and to the left. As the rocket missed, one of the Mutons just fell over, obviously a victim of a Mindfray (Man, screw guns, we have our mind-powers). And another of the Mutons stiffened, and turned to the other one, and took a ball of plasma to the face, dropping to the ground, shortly before it suffered a huge hit, from a combined Mindfray from Maxim and Masambe at the same time. It didn't quite die, but it was clearly fucked up. It tried to run back into the ship, but only made it about half way, before it took a plasma bolt to the face from Joe. Maxim looked around and did a quick head count "Wait a sec. Where's Psy-" but was interrupted by a loud thud behind them. He turned to see Aya jogging towards them from the corpse of the Berserker. Shotgun in 1 hand, a Berserker claw-blade in the other, and Maxim just noticed that the Berserker's head was actually a few feet away from it's body. Apparently complete decapitation could kill literally anything. "Why did you kill it! I had it under my control!" Harold shouted, storming towards her. "You were about to lose control of it, and you know it" she replied, in her usual monotone, seemingly disinterested in his anger, as she seemed to be trying to work out how to attach the blades to her own armour.

"I could have mind-controlled it again" Harold defended

"Vahlen recommends we do it only once per deployment. Doing it too often could cause some trauma"

"Whatever! It doesn't matter now anyway" Harold began moving towards the ship, pumping him shotgun.

"Wait Boomer" William said. Harold stopped, and looked at him

"What" Harold snapped

"Let me blow us a hole first"

"Fine"

"Everyone get into position for a breach"

Everyone began moving towards positions. "Got it" Aya said, Maxim looked over to see her moving her right arm around, 3 metal claws not attached to the wrist, extending over her knuckles, on the Berserker's, they looked little bigger than daggers, but on Aya's wrist, it became obvious, the blades were almost the size of a scythe blade. The blades over twice as long as her entire hand. "Careful you don't cut yourself" Maxim said

"I'm good with my hands" Aya replied. Maxim could practically hear the wink in the voice, and hadn't realized he still had psionic vision on, so he saw the wink as well. He could feel his face turning red, really wishing he had a full helmet now, and tried to cover it by pretending to reload his sniper, hoping the green glow of the plasma would cover it.

"Breaching" William called out, as he fired a rocket at the ship. Blowing a massive hole in the side. "Smoke, stealth in"

Joe re-engaged the stealth field, it having cooled down enough to be used again, and began moving into the ship. "It's one of the smaller one's" Joe called out "Cock-pit's at the back"

"Re-form inside then" William said. They moved inside. Maxim took position by a box-thing by himself. William at the one opposite him. Aya, Masambe, and Joe getting behind the railing-thing in the middle. "I'll blow the right wall" William said, getting a grenade out. Harold moved further inside, getting right by the wall, giving off a slight growl as he got into the position, and maxim immediately saw the normal ambient purple glow become pure black. For a second he thought he'd been mind controlled, then remembered that Harold had the combat stims. "Frag out" William called, and threw the grenade, it rolled right to the wall, and detonated, taking out the wall. Inside was an Elite Muton, and one of the 4-armed aliens, which Maxim had started calling Ethereal's, after the leaders of an alien race in a game he played (Because they had similar coloured skin, both used magic-like abilities. And because he liked the saying of the aliens in that game, imagining that's what the aliens would say 'For the Greater Good'), and the name had been taken up by everyone else. The Muton raised it's gun to fire, but stumbled as it took a Mindfray from Masambe, and it's plasma balls struck the ceiling. The Ethereal turned it's helmeted head towards the group, and Joe's entire left side went slack, and he began swinging his gun around, apparently trying to aim it at someone, but only able to use one hand, and being too close to Masambe to be able to move properly. Masambe bright up the LMG, and began unloading into the Ethereal, just as he began firing, Maxim saw a pulse around the Ethereal, and the shots that struck near the alien bounced back, and William ducked back down as some reflected shots grazed his shoulder, and Harold took several to the chest, but didn't even seem to notice, as he ran inside the cockpit, dropped his shotgun, jumped over the console the Muton was behind, and out of Maxim's sight. Aya leaped the wall, and began zipping towards the alien, using her suit to speed her even more, firing a shot point-blank into the aliens leg, causing it to fall. Aya raised her new claws, and seemed to be about to spear it with them, when it made a pushing gesture with it's 4 arms, and Aya went flying backwards into the wall, however, it underestimated her skills. As she hit the wall, she went with the impact, managing to move herself in the air, so she hit the wall feet first, bending her knees, and launching herself back up. She flipped around in the air, and landed, claws first, on the aliens face.

"All contacts clear. Well done everyone" Bradford came over the coms.

Joe stopped swinging his gun around, and slumped to the ground. "You all right?" William asked

"Yeah. Cybornetic's just being unresponsive. Difficult to stand up with 1 leg and one side a lot heavier than the other" Joe replied. Lifting his right hand and removing his helmet. His cybernetic eye was dull, whereas before it had a light in it

"Maybe mind-control can't take over cybernetic parts" Masambe suggested

"Probably" Joe agreed

"Here's hoping they start working again. Otherwise someone's gotta carry you back to the ship" Maxim joked

"Here's hoping" He leaned his head back against the railing thing.

Maxim looked up, in time to see Harold moving back into view. He was covered in blood. Orange blood. Muton blood. Like, completely covered, it looked like he'd gone for a swim in the stuff.

"Woah. What happened to you?" Maxim asked. This cause the others to look up, except for Joe who remained sitting

"I was just giving that fucker what it deserved" Harold said, nodding his head towards the direction he'd come from, behind the wall. Maxim was suddenly really glad there was a wall there still, as he was pretty sure he didn't want to see what's behind it. As he remembered what Vahlen had said about the combat stims when they'd made them, before Joe and Harold had even joined X-COM.

'These stimulants will release adrenaline, and other chemicals, which I wont bother listing, since only Keith would understand what they were, into the users system. Granting near immunity to pain and fear, and increasing the user's physical strength ten-fold' remembering that, and how strong Harold was anyway, and what Joe had told them about what he had done the other time he'd used them, left him virtually certain, that Harold had gone, and ripped that Muton apart with his hands. He never thought he'd feel sorry for one of those buggers, but facing an angry, stimmed up Harold wasn't something he'd ever want to face.

"Aya" Maxim called. She looked up from where she was, trying to pry the claws from the aliens head, presumably they were also stuck into the ground as well, since her fist was almost touching the alien's head. "That was awesome. How'd you do that"

"Conservation of momentum, and moments of inertia" Aya replied, still trying to wiggle the blades free, and slowly getting her fist further from it's head.

"What?"

"Science talk" Masambe replied

"Ah"

With a grunt of effort, Aya finally managed to wrench the blades out of the aliens head, unleashing another torrent of green blood. Damn, those stick guys had a surprising amount of blood for their size.

"I just realized. I think we only had 1 kill with an actual gun the whole mission" Maxim said

"Seriously?" Joe asked

"Yeah. You got one with your rifle as it ran, other than that, it was psionic's, or melee by Aya and Harold"

"Mind over Matter" Masambe said

"Yeah" Maxim replied "Fuck guns, we have brains"

* * *

 **There's going to be 1 more non-combat part. The final mission. Then a final part, to finish up the story, and set up for XCOM 2 (Not sure on a title for it yet. But it'll tell you in the final part if you want to carry this on. I could, of course, go for, A Gamer's Career 2, but, 1. that just sounds a bit strange, and 2. I'm thinking of having the next one bounce more between characters, so we get perspectives from quite a few people, and won't really have any 1 main character).**


	23. Chapter 23: Golloping to the Future

**Maxim jolted** awake in a cold sweat, gasping for breath

"What's up?" Aya asked. She was already up, fully clothed, and was watching T.V. Maxim didn't know what time it was, but was pretty sure it was late. She could seem to move across rooms almost instantly, recover from being hit with a ball of energy in like 3 seconds, and he had never actually seen her sleep, even when they'd been in the med bay, he'd always gone to sleep first and woke last, did she even sleep, he'd even tried a few times, but no matter how late he'd tried to stay up, he always found himself out before she was, and _he_ was the one with special abilities.

"Bad dream"

"What happened?"

"I can't remember, it felt so real though"

"Just your mind being stupid" She reassured him

"Normally, I'd agree with you. But what if this was a psionic thing?"

"Doubtful"

"But what if it was a premonition thing"

"You have shown no ability for precognition" She turned off the T.V and looked at him "If it happens again, go to Vahlen"

"Right, sure"

"Have I been wrong before?"

"No"

She smiled (Maxim often wondered if she was actually smiling, or just doing it for his benefit) "Then go back to sleep. Aya will protect the Vampire"

"Why do you always call me Vampire"

"How would you know it was me otherwise?"

Maxim drifted back into sleep, Aya sitting on the bed beside him, as if she actually was protecting him. The Valkyrie, Chooser of the Slain, protecting him from harm. If he had an artistic bone in his body, he would have drawn that as soon as he woke up, as it was, he let his mind draw it, as it was more elaborate than anything he could make. Aya, the Psychopathic Valkyrie, protector of the Vampiric Gamer.

* * *

 **"Hey Karl"** Maxim called as Karl came into his room "What's up?"

"Not much. Just wanted to see if I could play COD"

"You are aware you still suck at it, right?"

"Yep"

"Just checking" Maxim quit the game he was on already, and put it to multiplayer so Karl could join in.

They played in, relative, silence for a while, Maxim focusing on the game, and Karl cursing every time he was shot, celebrating every time he managed to get a kill, and just generally shouting at the game.

"How's the art coming?" Maxim asked

"Pretty good. Still keeping with my 'Fuck the Aliens' theme"

"Good theme"

"It has it's moments"

"Have you repainted the skyranger yet?"

"Yep. What do you think I'm doing here"

"You said you wanted to play COD"

"I wanted to do that, but I needed an alibi"

"I'm surrounded by criminals"

"Don't say that around Masambe, he'll give you a lecture about killing in war"

"Good tip. You might want to not walk on that mine"

"What mine-. Oh, that mine. FUCK YOU MINE!"

"How can you still rage at this game"

"I'm not raging, I just like shouting at inanimate objects"

"You sound like Harold"

"Nah. I just shout at them. He goes through training dummy's like it's going out of style. Pretty sure I saw him rip one's throat out once, with his teeth"

"Haven't been seeing much of Ryo in a while"

"Nah. He's been sticking to his room and the training area. In fact, I haven't seen him in the same room as Harold, Masambe, Keith or you in a while"

"He probably just hates the psionic stuff. It's not regimented, and he can't control it, so he isn't going to stay in the same room as it unless he's ordered to. Annd, sniped"

"Dude. That was me!"

"We're on free-for-all. You're fair game"

"How about I shoot you then"

"You can't spray and pray me through that window. I'll take 1 hit and be out of sight"

"What about grenades"

"You can't throw a grenade to save your life. I think I saw you kill yourself with a combat axe once, and I didn't think that was possible"

"Oh hardy har har"

"All operatives please report to the Command Deck. All operatives to the Command Deck"

"She sounds serious" Karl said, dropping his controller on the bed, and heading outside

"Always in the middle of the game" Maxim said, sniping one last time before turning off the console, and following Karl outside

* * *

 **"What's going** on?" Maxim asked Masambe as he arrived, he wasn't last this time, yay, but he was near last. Only Ryo and Eva hadn't shown up yet

"I believe it has something to do with that Gollop Chamber they've built around the device we got from the alien ship" Masambe replied

"Interesting" Maxim said, slightly sarcastic, but he did mean it, he was pretty sure the thing was very psionic, so they might find out a thingy about psionics

"Mr Goto, Miss Solovyova, glad you could join us" The Commander said, as the 2 came in through the door. Ryo looked his usual self, all prim and proper, if X-COM gave badges Maxim was sure they'd be blinding to look at. Eva on the other hand looked a bit ruffled up, her hair was all over the place, and it looked like her shirt was on backwards. "Now, to business. As you all probably know we have recently finished construction of the room known as the 'Gollop Chamber'. This is a bit complicated, so I will let Vahlen explain the rest, but listen up"

"Thank you, Commander" Vahlen said, as she took a step forward, pressing a button on the control panel in front of her, changed the hologram in the middle of the room from a 3D model of Earth, to what looked like surveillance footage of a room. It had a steel pathway leading through the middle, with what looked like water on either side, leading to the device they'd gotten from the alien ship which was at the far side of the room, or the near side, depending on if you went by the door, or where the camera was "This device, as those with Psionic abilities can tell, is highly resonant in psionic energies. Until know we have had no way of properly analysing it, that was until my colleague Dr Shen pointed out, that only those with Psionic abilities can influence Psionic energies. Therefore we came up with a plan. Keith Taylor, Masambe Digkale, Harold Sanders, and Maxim Popov, please step forward"

Maxim stepped forward, separating himself from the group, and into a line in front of the group with the 3 other Psionic soldiers. Vahlen continued "We will require a volunteer to go into the chamber and, interface, with the ob-"

Even before she could finish her sentence, Masambe stepped forward "I volunteer as tribute" (Well, he actually said "I will volunteer for the task". But Maxim preferred his version)

"Are you sure Masambe?" Keith asked "We have no idea what this thing will do"

"Which is precisely why I have to volunteer" Masambe paused for a second before continuing "Harold, you are our strongest psionic user, therefore, you should not use this, in case it kills the operator, so we can keep our strongest psionicist, you also have your brother. Keith, you are our healer in the field, no offense to Joe, but you are meant to help people, not destroy, and that is what the one that uses this device must do, destroy. Maxim, you are the youngest of us, so would have the most to lose in death from this, you have a family, and someone else you care for. I lose those I cared for in the first week of the alien invasion. When I first used my psionic powers, I quoted the inventor of the Atomic Bomb 'Now I am become death, the destroyer of worlds'. So now, I will live up to that quote"

As Masambe finished, Harold slapped him on the back "You're a good man, Masambe. I hope that whatever that thing does, it let's us wipe these aliens off the surface of the universe"

As Harold finished his, considerably shorter, speech, everyone in the room began applauding Masambe. Even Vahlen and the Commander joined in. Ryo gave a few claps as well.

"Well then, Masambe" Vahlen said, once the applause had died down "We had best get you suited up, and down to the chamber"

Masambe nodded, and followed Vahlen out of the room.

"Everyone else, stay here, you can watch what happens from here" The Commander said as he approached the 3 remaining psionic users. "Harold, you stay here with everyone else. Keith, Maxim, I want you to try and force field the room again"

"Really?" Maxim asked

"Yes. If something goes wrong, well, a Psionic wave would care little for steel and concrete. And, although Shen has put as much effort as he can into the construction of that facility, we still want the extra protection you guys can provide"

"Sure thing" Keith said

"Sure" Maxim added, and they followed the Commander to the elevator that would take them down. Maxim feeling like his heart was about to explode. What if that nightmare had been a premonition, and it was about this? But. No. He wouldn't believe that, this couldn't go wrong, not now, not after everything they'd done to get this far. After all, Aya had said there was nothing to worry about, and even the universe wouldn't want to make an enemy of Aya Haidar, she was basically female Chuck Norris at one point.

Maxim though of that all the way down to the chamber, distracting himself by thinking of the captions he'd put on a picture of Aya to meme her. 'Santa Clause used to exist. Until he forgot Aya's present'. 'Death once had a near-Aya experience'. 'Aya can slam a revolving door shut'. And other such things on his way, and actually had to explain what he was doing when he burst out laughing at the Santa One. And the 3 of them spent the ride down coming with Aya memes. Maxim's favourite was when Keith said "Global warming doesn't exist. Aya got cold and turned up the sun". And the Commander replied with "Aya doesn't get cold. Cold get's Aya". Apparently Maxim wasn't the only one that thought Aya was badass. The whole thing ended right before they arrived, man that thing was deep. The Commander produced a data-pad, with a picture of a man with a cast going from his upper-torso, all the way down to his legs, and said "This is what someone looks like after a night with Aya". And Maxim, feeling cocky as fuck, pointed his thumbs at himself and said "No. This is one someone looks like after a night with Aya".

"What?" The Commander asked

"... I'm a dumbass"

"Yes, Maxim and Aya have been kind of a thing for a month now"

"Really?"

"Yes, apparently they did some flying and-"

"Wait! How do you know about that?"

"Karl told me"

"Karl told you?"

"Karl told everyone!"

"Mother-trucker"

"Trucker?" the Commander asked "Your mother isn't here, your allowed to swear"

"It just felt like a trucker moment" Maxim said "So, everyone knows?"

"Not everyone" Keith said "Karl only told the soldiers, and Rebecca"

"At least there's that"

"Commander knows now" The Commander said "And Commander isn't good at keeping secrets"

"You asshat" Maxim said

"Asshat? I've never heard that before. Asshat. I like it. I'm using that now"

* * *

 **"Once more** unto the breach" Masambe said over the coms as he entered the chamber. Maxim and Keith were in an observing room above him as he walked towards the strange thing on the far side of the room

"Must you quote someone before everything you do?" Maxim asked

"If i'm going to go and touch a strange glowing orb that belongs to aliens, i'm going to quote Shakespeare before I do it"

"Why?" Maxim asked

"Because I like to. And I want to teach you some random quotes"

"Fair enough" Maxim said

"We doing this?" Maxim asked Keith

"We sure are" Keith replied, as he put a hand on the Commander's shoulder, and Maxim did the same, chaining the 3 people together

"It feels so weird when we do it" Maxim complained

"Oh stop being a baby" The Commander replied

They merged. It was a weird feeling, sharing you consciousness with 2 other people, you felt like you were all one person, capable of anything, but right now, all they all wanted to do was prevent any hazardous psionic energy from escaping "We could have brought Harold" they said. It was impossible to tell which of them said it, as they all felt like the same person "He doesn't have the focus necessary to do this. He'd ruin it" they said again. It was seriously trippy. They created a force-field encompassing the platform the thing was on, just as Masambe went inside it.

* * *

 _Masambe stepped onto the platform, just as he moved inside, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up, they'd put up the force-field behind him. He thought about his husband as he went up, focusing himself in his memories of happier times, the way he always did when he was about to use Psionics. He thought of their wedding, their family and friends in the pews, them at the alter, how handsome John had looked. He thought about their children, Stacy, so energetic, always running around, never sitting still for a minute, Zakari so studious, so smart, he'd always have a book in his hands. He focussed on memories of the happy years they spent together, he was away on deployments a lot, but he got letters from them constantly. He had the last one he'd ever received in his pocket right now, but, that was before the aliens-. No, go back, marriage, adoptions, sending them to school. He approached the orb, thinking of those happy times when he was with them, he moved to place his hands on the orb, feeling a pressure there, like when you try to push 2 same charged sides of a magnet together, he kept pushing his hands for a second, then remembered, and shifted his hands diagonally to the force of repelling, sliding one hand up the ball, and the other hand down as the same time that he pushed them in, this made it significantly easier to move his hands closer, as his fingers can closer to touching it, it changed shape becoming spiked all over, but the spikes separated around his hands, and he finally brought his fingers into contact. As soon as he did so, his thoughts of his family were pushed aside by a new force, and images began to flash through his mind, almost faster than he could comprehend, the face of an ethereal, a human being put in one of those liquefaction pods, an Ethereal using the same device he was using, or one very similar, the alien ship, heading towards the earth, and many others, he also heard a voice, whispering, and overlapping, as if a dozen voices were speaking at the same time, but not quite in sync "You have succeeded, where we have failed". The mental assault faded, and he returned to his memories, he looked up from the ball, and could feel the new abilities roiling through him, it almost burned, as if his blood had become acidic, and was eating away at his veins, but he focused on his memories, took a breath, and stepped back from the ball. Now certain as to what they must do, and, in extension, what he must do. He muttered to himself "Once more unto the fray, into the last good fight I'll ever know. Live, and die, on this day. Live, and die, on this day!" as he remembered the last phrase on the last letter he'd received fro his John, he'd always liked to quote from his favourite movies and people he admired. He closed his eyes and took a breath then looked up at the observation deck, it was one-way glass, but he could see clean through it as if it weren't there to the people inside. The other's looked like normal people, but Keith, Maxim and The Commander had a strong glow around them, purple, psionics, but there was something else, he could see the purple flowing, they'd fused consciousness's to create a more powerful force-field, but there was something else in that glow, something, something he couldn't quite put his finger on, there was something different in the aura of them, from whom it came from he couldn't tell, they were the same person for now, but, there was something there. He stepped down from the platform, and prepared to tell them how to get onto the alien ship._

* * *

 **We're almost done now. Just 2 more parts to go. I had a bit of fore-shadowing here, some of which I'm just giggling at and you'll have no idea that it means anything for a while, some of which are more obvious. I threw in a couple *Wink wink nudge nudge* moments in as well. And a little backstory for 'The One', as I call the person that does the Gollop Chamber thing. Now, I'm off to do the final mission. I'll have that one up by Sunday (11th), or Monday (12th), and the final, Epilogue part by the Saturday (17th), hopefully. I'll see you all there, thank you so much for reading, and hopefully I can provide an epic enough ending for this thing.**


	24. Chapter 24: The Final Mission

**"Through there"** Masambe said, pointing towards an area near the middle of the alien ship. Maxim looked around at the group that had been chosen for, what could possibly be, the final battle with the aliens.

Aya was sitting across from Maxim, in the Archangel armour (Maxim didn't know how useful that would be inside), the shotgun on her lap, and the claws she'd taken from the Berserker last mission still attached to her right wrist.

Keith was on Aya's left, his rifle also in his lap, fiddling with the med-kit spray.

William on her right, his LMG on the ground, he was sitting a lot stiller than everyone else, probably thinking about what they're going to do once they got on the ship.

Harold was on Maxim's left, the shotgun in his lap, his hands balled into fists, he really looked like he was ready to punch the first thing he saw when they got out, pretty standard then.

Masambe was in the cockpit, talking to the Pilot, apparently touching the devise showed him how to get into the ship.

Maxim was checking the scope was right on his plasma sniper, occasionally taking a look at the ship, if he used Psionic vision all he saw was a big purple cocoon in the air, it had some insane psionic protection, if he used normal sight, he just saw the massive alien ship hovering over the water.

After a few minutes, they were very close to the purple cocoon, Maxim did not want to find out what happens if they fly into it (they hadn't been shot at after all) "Uh, Masambe, I don't know if you can see it, but there's that big ass psionic field around it"

"I know" Masambe replied "Don't worry, I've got it"

"Alright then, if you're sure"

"I am"

Just as they were about to strike the field, the field disappeared in the area around them, and they passed straight through

"Damn" Maxim said, he was the only one that actually saw the field, and saw it disappear around them (except maybe Masambe), so nobody else saw how epic that seemed

"I told you"

"How are we getting inside?" Firebrand (The Pilot) asked "I can detect no openings in that thing"

"There's an opening. Get above it"

Firebrand obliged, and the skyranger went up, after getting above it, Masambe began directing her more precisely (left a bit, forward, right a bit, etc.)

After directing it for a few minutes Masambe simply said "Down"

Firebrand obliged, apparently she'd been told to do whatever Masambe said, and the ship dropped down, and, straight through the ship. It didn't even seem to have a space, but it looked like they'd just dropped through the ship.

"Landed" Firebrand said as the ship stopped dropping, and the bay doors began opening.

"Wait here as long as you can" Masambe told Firebrand as he moved to the door.

The others got out first, being closer to the door, and began taking up positions before a door towards the inside of the ship. As Masambe jogged over to take his place, his stopped, and a hand went to his head. There was a slight purple glow around his head when he started doing that.

"Masambe?" Maxim asked, worrying that it might be some powerful Mindfray.

"It's. A, voice? Something about, failed trials, a New One to face trials... I think I'm this, New One"

"We have Neo on the team" Maxim said, trying to make light of it

"Just ignore it" William said "It's just the aliens trying to scare us"

"Let's hope you're right" Keith replied

"Let's do this!" Harold roared as he ran inside, going to a railing thing, an firing a shot over it "Sectoid and Commander one left!"

The room was massive, and made of platforms of a greyish, purplish metal over a huge drop to nothingness.

"You need to slow down" Keith said, as he shifted position to the door Harold had gone through, and fired "1 Down. They're disappearing after we kill them"

"Wounded the Leader" Aya said, she'd, apparently, run in during that, and was near to Harold taking her shot at the Commander.

"It's talking about the Sectoids" Masambe said, as he too ran in through the door, the Sectoid Commander stumbled, but stayed up "Cyberdisk" he called

Maxim ran inside as, just Harold jumped down and sent the commander flying into the gap of the platforms, and Maxim created the Telekinetic Barrier against the Cyberdisk's shots. "Probably some kind of Psionic portals to remove the bodies or something"

"More Cyberdisk's" William called as he too joined them inside, and a Cyberdisk and it's drones came flying in from the other side. The first Cyberdisk opened up, and it's tail thing reached inside "Grenade!"

The grenade sailed through the Telekinetic field, and landed right between Maxim and Masambe, destroying the railing they were behind and badly damaging their armour. "Armour got it" Maxim called as the other Cyberdisk floater over the gap, moving to a position where the Harold wasn't covered, it fired a green beam, but the shot went high as Harold pumped a shot into it as it was open to fire, and it did a backflip, but didn't complete the spin as a plasma bolt slammed into the side and it flee into the hole for a second, before disappearing in a purple flash. William unloaded his LMG, and the other Cyberdisk disappeared in a purple flash as it was hailed by plasma bolts. Masambe began his own spray at the same time, and destroyed the 2 drones with the Disk.

"Reload for a second" William said "Vampire, know anything about these portal things?"

"Not really, I can see a bit a line going from the flash, but it's too faint and too fast, I can't see where it goes" Maxim replied, checking his armour to make sure he wasn't impaled by shrapnel, fortunately he wasn't, but his chest plate was rather fucked up.

"Any guesses as to why?" William asked

"Maybe the captain of the ships a clean freak?" Maxim suggested

"Let's hope so. Everyone, keep an eye out, if they can port stuff out they can port them in" William said. "Now move up, I see another door over there"

Everyone began moving up the stairs to the higher platform that was leading to the door William had noticed, they could split off to go on separate routes, but they didn't want to risk getting split up, and this platform was higher so they'd have an advantage in a fire-fight.

Maxim grappled across the gap, seeing no point in running around, as he sailed across the gap, he glanced to the right and saw 2 Sectoids moving around on the lower platform, when he landed, rather than immediately climb up the raining, he held on with his left hand, and fired the plasma pistol on his wrist, and pumped a shot straight into one of their heads, it disappeared in a purple flash, and Maxim pulled himself up, he looked over, and the other one fell as it ran, then disappeared, just as a plasma bolt streaked through the area it was in, Maxim looked at where the shot had come from, and he saw Aya and Harold standing next to each other, Aya with her pistol out, Harold already moving away from the position 'Kill Stealer' Maxim thought. Aya put her pistol away, and jumped, aided by her suit, onto the platform, not bothering with the stairs. Maxim noticed a big arch over the right side, and raised his grapple to try and get on top, but it just slipped off the ledge, he fired it a few times, but it just kept slipping off "Guess that's not happening" he said after the 4th try, and turned to the door just as Aya and Harold ran inside, he could see the platform become thin, only wide enough for 3 or 4 people to stand next to each other at once, he could see some ramps coming up on the closest side, and again on the other side, so he assumed there were multiple levels.

"Floater's right!" Harold shouted

William ran inside, and he started firing right, and then a purple line came out of Harold and there was a screech. "Heavy down" Harold called as a beam of plasma went over his head "Ya missed!"

Aya shifted position forward "Floaters, left. 2 Far Side" as she fired over the railing "Damn dodgy fuckers"

William unloaded his LMG again "They can't dodge all that though"

"They're talking about the Floater's being disappointments like the Sectoids" Masambe said as he moved in, and looked at the floaters on the far side, Maxim was aiming at the through the door, just as he was about to take a shot there was a large area just seemed to start swirling with purple, and the floaters fell then disappears

Keith fired over the left railing as Maxim ran into the room and he saw the Floater just taking evasive manoeuvres and dodging all the shots. "Let me do it" Harold shouted and levelled his shotgun, striking it straight in the chest, and sending the parts flying before they disappeared

 _"The New One has surpassed all the others with such confidence. So skilled with the gift"_ A voice spoke in Maxim's head, it sounded like the few times Keith had communicated telepathically, but Echoy, as if there were a half-dozen voices speaking at the same time.

"What the-" Maxim wondered at the voice but snapped out of his confusion as he saw 3 Flashes of light 2 from the right, 1 from the left, and, without even noticing what was teleporting in, he turned, and pumped a shot into the one on the left, then swivelled the gun and pumped another one into the one on the right. After taking the shots he noticed that the 3rd one was a Crysalid, so he assumed the others were as well. But didn't get much chance to think about that as the last Crysalid was destroyed by a hail of plasma bolts from William's LMG.

"Form up at the door" William called

They moved up, doing their regular door formation, Aya and Harold at the front, William and Masambe in the middle, and Keith and Maxim at the back.

This time Aya went in first, Maxim couldn't see much of the room, because there was a massive box-thing in the way, which Aya ran up to "Thin Men" she called, before pumping a pistol shot behind the box, before the puff of green gas showed that she'd killed it. "One fled"

"Move in, keep your eyes open" William said, and they did just that, moving in, taking cover behind one of the boxes (There was another one just a few feet after it), or the railing.

William grunted as a plasma bolt struck his shoulder as he moved to position from the Thin Man that had ran outside, and moved around the wall, but it didn't get to do anything more, as Keith fired a shot, which hit the aliens gun, resulting in a small explosion behind the wall. "Hey. That's my move" Maxim said, remembering his first encounter with the Thin Men. "It's a good move" Keith replied.

"Form up again" William said, and they did so, Aya firing a pistol down to the right as she did so, "Thin Man" she explianed. After reloading Harold just charged into the room. "Mutons left right and Zerk middle"

Masambe ran inside right after Harold, and an area became a swirling purple vortex again, the 2 Mutons inside it disappearing in a flash again, apparently dead. Just as this portal appeared Harold dropped down the railing, out of Maxim's sight, and the Berserker roared and ran into the swirling area, and then fell and disappeared. "That worked" Masambe said "Shut up! I don't care about your damn aliens!" he shouted, most likely yelling at the voice that kept talking to him, while he was yelling there was a red blur, and Aya flew past to the right, with a loud boom following "Muton down". Maxim ran in, noticed how grouped up they all were, and activated the stealth (He'd received Ghost Armour before the mission, since it was essentially just an upgrade to his other armour), and dropped over the railing so he was out of grenade range.

The Muton didn't grenade, instead it tried a long shot at Harold, who was flanked in his position, but Maxim was there and, freaking out as the ball flew at him, threw out his hands, and the ball flew up into the air. The Muton didn't get long to be confused by this, as Aya moved a bit, flanking it, and shotgunned it in the chest, it stumbled back out of sight, but there was no flash, again shitting himself Maxim thrust his hands forwards, and the bolt of plasma came down from the ceiling, down behind the box thing, this time there was the flash as it's body was ported out.

"When did you learn that?" Aya asked as she came over, reloading her shotgun

"No idea. I was just shitting myself about, first me getting hit by that shot, then you getting shot. And the plasma ball just kinda, did stuff" Maxim replied, looking around, and seeing a faint purple glow in the area the plasma ball went through "Did I just learn proper Telekinesis?"

"It seems so" Keith said, as he came around, he used the stairs rather than vaulting it. Maxim looked down the room, there was another railing a bit ahead, and 2 Platforms running down the left and right, and a set of stairs coming up at the end of the room, so Maxim assumed there was a lower platform.

"Psycho, fly over and check out that lower bit" William said

"On it" Aya said, and she took off, flying up, and over to above the railing "Sectopods. It's scanning the railing, it hasn't noticed me" she called

"Everyone move up, but keep away from the middle railing" William said "Aya, save fuel"

Aya flew backwards and down, landing on the right side by the railing. Maxim moved back to the platform they'd come from, hoping to get vision, but the railing was in the way. Before he was able to move to where everyone was, William took the rocket launcher off his back, and fired. The boom of it's detonation was followed quickly by Masambe looking over the railing, and an extremely loud explosion for about a half of a second before a purple flash announced their teleporting away.

"That was easy" Maxim said as he moved over to join up with them, before he saw 2 purple flashes on the other side of the room "I think they brought in re-enforcements"

"Vampire, stay here, keep us covered. Everyone else, up and over". Maxim got up against the railing, and rested the sniper rifle against it, keeping an eye out for when whatever had been teleported in ran into view.

A few seconds later, the rest of the group were taking cover behind the boxes at the far end of the platform. Maxim saw some of the Elite Muton's running down the stairs at the far back, onto a middle platform, Maxim took a shot, and nailed one in the face, it fell backwards and disappeared. The other one fired a shot at Aya, but she engaged her jets and hopped over it, and Maxim turned, and pumped a shot into it's face as well.

"Anything else coming in?" William asked

"Nothing I can see"

"Come down and join us. Form up at the door"

Maxim hopped down, and ran towards them, they were only jogging, and, assisted by his servo's, he caught up with them at the top of the first set of stairs.

"Damn Maxim, you're going to give Aya a run for her money on speed" Keith said as Maxim sprinted up next to him

"Nah, i'm actually sprinting it, Aya just, appears" He looked over at Aya "How do you do that anyway?"

"I'm good with my legs as well" Again, Maxim could hear the wink, and see it with Psionic vision he kept turning on without realizing it.

"Enough flirting. Form up" William said, and they began forming up outside, there was no actual cover, and, looking through the door with Psionic Vision, Maxim could see it was a tunnel before it lead to the other room, so, instead, they just lined up either side of the door in the usual order.

"Vampire? You have stealth left?" William asked

Maxim checked his suits venting system "Loads"

"Stealth inside there. Tell us what you see"

"Alright" Maxim engaged the stealth, and moved inside, as soon as he opened the door on the other side of the tunnel the voice began speaking.

While it spoke Maxim noticed an Ethereal slightly Larger than the one's they'd encountered before, standing on a platform higher up than the rest of the room, with 2 Elite Mutons on the platform below it, and a purple flash on platforms on both sides of the room.

 _"Behold the greatest failures... Of the Ethereal ones... We who failed to ascend as they thought we would. We who were cast out. Who were force to feed on the gist of lesser beings... As we sought to uplift them... To prepare them... For what lies ahe-"_

Before it finished it's speech, Maxim, still in stealth, lined up his sniper rifle with the Ethereal's face, and, before it finished, fired a shot, there was a flash of purple, and it's Psionic Barrier was shattered. Quicker than he'd ever done it before, fired again, it didn't even get time to react to the first shot before the second one went straight through it's face. The Alien flew backwards with the force of the shot, then disappeared in a purple flash, at the same time it disappeared, all the other aliens in the room also disappeared.

 _"This is not your path... Not your purpose... You need our guidance to hone your powers... Without us, what are you"_ The voice screeched

"I'm a gamer" Maxim replied, no idea if the voice actually heard him, he just thought it sounded like an awesome one-liner.

"We're clear guys" Maxim called down the corridor

They came through one at a time, the corridor too small to let them pass through quicker "Maxim, did you just?" Masambe asked, as he saw the empty room, the only notable thing left was an object like the one in the Gollop chamber on the far side of the room "Interesting" he muttered

"Maxim, what did you do?!" Harold asked, he sounded angry "Why didn't you save any for me!"

"I just shot what looked like the leader, got him right in the face, then the other alien's disappeared like they'd died" Maxim replied

"Maxim, i need to talk to you" Masmabe said, he sounded urgent so Maxim went over to him

"What is it?" Maxim asked

"That wasn't how that was supposed to end" Masambe said

"What?"

"When i touched the device, i saw how this was supposed to end, everything else was the same, but you were supposed to go in there, kill the Mutons then we moved in to help. We still won in the end, but William died, and the rest of us were injured"

"Sounds like i helped then"

"That's the issue. That's not supposed to be possible"

"What?"

"You just altered the way the future was supposed to go"

"It could have just been-"

"No. You altered it, it's not supposed to be possible, but you did it" Masambe seemed to realize something and he muttered "So, i'm not the-"

Before Masambe finished the ship began shaking violently, and bits started falling from the ceiling

"GO!" Masambe shouted, and threw his hands towards the door, everyone flew backwards through the tunnel, and then a purple field appeared in the tunnel "Get to the skyranger. There's nothing you can do here. The ships going to explode, and I have to get it away"

"How do you-" William began

"GO!" Masambe shouted, this time he didn't use his mouth, they just felt the voice slam into their minds "You may be able to get away. GO!"

This time, they didn't argue, and began running back towards the ship.

* * *

 **They ran** onto the skyranger, getting onto the bay doors as they began to close, Aya getting in first, followed by Maxim, then Harold, then Keith, and finally William, who only made it in after Maxim did a pulling motion with his hands and William flew forwards "I'm getting good at this"

The skyranger took off, flying back out the same way it came in, through the roof. And they began flying off, the cockpit door was still open, and Firebrand looked back in "Where's Masambe?"

"He stayed behind, something about getting the ship away before it explodes" Harold said, he was looking and sounding rather grumpy.

The Skyranger flew away from the ship "Barrier's gone" Maxim reported, and the ship flew straight through where it used to be.

Suddenly they all heard Masambe's voice speaking in their mind _"The day of my birth, my death began it's walk. It is walking towards me, without hurrying. I go now to embrace him, and I do so with a smile. For I shall see them again"._

At the conclusion of his words there was a loud boom, and Maxim turned, looking through the small window in the closed bay doors, he saw the alien ship, now very high in the atmosphere, explode in a fireball.

The Commander's voice came over the coms "Good work everyone. Hopefully, that's the last we see of the aliens"

* * *

 **Almost done now. 1 more part left. The ending to that mission was just so hilarious to me. I'd forgotten that's what happens when you kill the leader alien. So just having a sniper move in, and snipe the leader in 1 turn, it was just so funny. Ah ha, i'm the big alien boss, be afrai-*Sniped*. Just the epilogue left. Thank you for reading this, as we reach the end, of the Gamer's Journey in X-COM.**


	25. Chapter 25: A Journey's End (Epilogue)

**Maxim sat** in his room, playing his games without really paying attention. All he could think about was what had happened on that ship, and what Masambe had told him. He'd said that that wasn't how that event was supposed to go, but if that was true, and the future was set like Masambe seemed to think, and Maxim had changed that, did that mean something? He'd also muttered something that Maxim hasn't caught, the ship interrupted him. What would have happened if he hadn't done that? What if he had fired at the Muton's? He had felt like that would be way to start it, take out the muscle first, then mop up the Psionic guys, but he got a clear shot at the leader and just had to take it. Apparently William would have died, and they'd all get injured, so surely that was for the best, but, Maxim remembered several narrative game's he'd played had things called 'The Butterfly Effect', so that things you did differently would affect the future of the game, and, some things that seemed to save someone just go them killed more brutally later on. They'd held a kind of funeral for Masambe, with nothing to bury they'd just got a picture of him, and put it on the memorial to the fallen. There was a surprisingly low number of pictures on that wall. Just Masambe, the girl that had joined then been killed in the ambush, Maxim couldn't even remember her name and hadn't looked at the wall, and 2 others that Maxim has never met. Losing 4 soldiers over a year of fighting never before met aliens had to be a good track record. But then the wall didn't show all the non-X-COM forces lost fighting the aliens, the armies of earth were badly weakened from having to fight the aliens all the time, and millions of people had been killed by the aliens. But they'd finally driven the aliens off. There was still the occasional attack from the remnants of the alien forces, apparently they didn't believe in surrendering, but the army was more suited to that task than X-COM.

There was talk about X-COM being mostly disbanded now. They'd keep the HQ obviously, and they'd continue to research the tech, but soldiers weren't really needed any more. They'd probably becoming something like a special forces unit, called into action every now and then, but for the most part living normally, which sounded pretty good to Maxim, after a year of this he was wondering how he'd even gotten into this at all, to think he ended up joining after passing a T.V store on the way home from buying, was it milk, bread? He couldn't remember any more. Would it have ended differently if Maxim hadn't been there? Or would there have just been someone else In Maxim's place. What was he thinking about before? Oh yeah, X-COM, being disbanded, he wasn't sure what was happening to the Engineers and Scientists, but he knew the soldiers were going home in a few weeks.

Keith, William, Harold, Joe, and Eva were apparently going to form a Special Forces group, Maxim wasn't sure for who, but, kind of like The Avengers, if shit ever went down, they'd be called up to stop it. That sounded pretty awesome. 'Oh yeah, that badass group, that's basically a real-life superhero team, yeah, I know those guys, we hang out every now and then. Used to kill aliens together'.

Karl said he was going home. Getting back to his art stuff. Apparently Anti-Alien stuff had become quite popular recently, and no-one did Anti-Alien art like Karl.

Maxim didn't know what Ryo was going to do, and didn't really care.

Maxim himself was heading back to England, but he was bringing someone, Aya was coming with him. He'd be bringing a girl home, a feat he'd never thought he'd actually manage without being set-up by someone. Maxim had tried to imagine Aya as a typical house wife, but it wasn't possible, it just returned to her and Chuck Norris getting into a fist fight, and destroying the planet by accident, Maxim had a strange imagination. Maxim had spent some time catching up on the news, and found one thing really tickled his morbid funny bone. Apparently, a Gorilla name Harambe (Which Maxim misread as Masambe at a first glance), had been killed after a kid had fallen in to the pen, and Maxim just couldn't help reading It as Masambe now, imagining Masambe dragging the kid around before being shot. He just laughed so hard every time, then felt bad, then went back to laughing.

Maxim would miss some things about X-COM: Being able to hang out with the squad every day, his armour and it's servos (It made all physical stuff SO much easier), The Commander being stupid, messing around with his Psionics in the facility (he'd have to clamp down on using it in the real world or he'd scare the crap out of literally everyone). But there were a few things he defiantly wouldn't miss: being worried about Ryo being, well, Ryo, that damn inter-com that always interrupted him mid- "EMERGENCY BREACH. EMERGENCY BREACH. ALL UNITS TO THE ARMOURY" -thought, apparently.

* * *

 **The power** went off for a second, then came back on, all the lights were now red, and the alarm was still blaring. Maxim got up immediately, and ran towards the armoury. He bumped into Aya on the way "What's going on?" he asked as they ran

"Sounds like we're being attacked" She replied, slowing down her run since she could easily out-pace him. Seriously, how is she so fast?

They were almost at the armoury, just up ahead, they ran to a T-Junction.

"Attacked? By who?" As if on que, a bolt of plasma fired over his head, coming from the T-Junction and struck the wall behind him, he slid to a stop, coming back a few steps to be in cover behind the wall. Aya was, somehow, on the other side of the junction to him. He poked his head around the corner, and saw a Sectoid standing in the open, firing at Aya's side to keep here there (Have they not figured out how she moves yet?). Maxim focused, and the alien stiffened and collapsed.

"That answer's that question" Aya said as she continued running towards the armoury with Maxim.

"I thought they were basically finished"

"Apparently not quite"

* * *

 **They reached** the armoury, and grabbed their equipment. Feeling pressed for time, they didn't grab the armour, since it would take them a good 5 or 10 minutes to get it all on, although Maxim grabbed the combat-goggle things for his suit, since he could just put them on without the armour. He got a strap to hold the sniper rifle on his back, put the plasma pistol on his wrist, and put the goggles on, Maxim looked at Aya, she had a shotgun in each hand, and a half-dozen pistols on her belt. Maxim raised an eyebrow at this "I prefer to be prepared" she replied

"Where to?" Maxim asked

"It said to meet at the armoury, guessing that there's no-one here, I'd say the Command Deck"

"Let's go then"

* * *

 **"That aint** happening" Maxim said as they saw what was going on at the Command Deck. They were able to go unnoticed purely because the aliens were too busy swarming the place. It looked like everyone was pretty much wrecked on the ground floor, just 1 pocket of resistance left at the back corner was as that was left. The upstairs was doing O.K, the stairs up to it were destroyed, so no flanking or melee for the aliens, and they had consoles and stuff up against the railing for cover, but Maxim could see they were being slowly overwhelmed.

"We should go, see if we can help someone" They were about to do just that when they heard an ungodly shout of rage, at first Maxim thought it was from a Berserker, but then Maxim saw a figure covered in blood of all colours, burst out of the aliens lines, and sprint for the exit, what looked like a sword in one hand, and a shotgun in the other, some of the blood clearly belonged to them, but most of it was alien, and there was a massive hole cut in the aliens line. Maxim was about to suggest they go and help now, when the upper floor suddenly buckled, and collapsed.

It crushed a good portion of the aliens, but it left everyone that had been on it injured, stunned, and exposed. Except for 1 figure still standing, a plasma rifle in a metal arm, the other arm hanging limply by their side, firing at the aliens, Joe wasn't going down just yet. A plasma bolt flew towards him, but a table was thrown in the way, and another figure stood up, holding a massive gun, and firing a hail into the aliens, as this figure stood up, the other people around them began getting up, moving objects to make cover and firing back. Maxim identified roughly a dozen in total, a mix of scientists and engineers (Maxim noticed Rebecca wielding a rifle and firing into the aliens), as well as Joe, William (who had been the one levelling the machine gun), and Ryo, firing with dozens of pistols on his person, and switching between them incredibly fast. The aliens were being decimated by the quick recovery of the X-COM forces, and it looked like the X-COM forces were wining, but Maxim noticed that Ryo's pistols weren't actually firing shots, he was about to comment this to Aya, when Ryo turned, and fired his pistols, for real this time, into Joe and William.

* * *

 **Being shot** from the unexpected angle, and with no armour on, left them with no chance to defend themselves, and the 2 were taken down by a hail of plasma bolts to the chest and head, their upper bodies a mess of blood, bone, meat, and, in Joe's case, metal. Before the other soldiers could react, Ryo dropped a pistol, pulled out a grenade and threw it into their midst, too stunned by the betrayal they didn't even think to move, and almost all of them were killed by the blast. Only 1 person was standing after the blast, and that was Rebecca, who turned to fire a shot directly into Ryo's face, but nothing happened, she was out of ammo but not one to go down easily she tried to smack him with the rifle, but Ryo nocked the rifle aside, and grabbed her around the throat, lifting her into the air with 1 hand, and Maxim could hear him speak from across the room, because the aliens had stopped firing, and it was now disturbingly quiet

"I've been counting the shots" before he broke the silence, and pumped a shot into her chest. She gasped as her lungs were blown out her back, leaving a massive hole in her chest. Even as she died she kept trying to fight him, a hand reaching for his face as she died, but before her hand reached his face, Ryo released her throat, and dropped her body to the floor, and then put another shot into her head.

* * *

 **"NO!" A** shout came from across the room, and a bolt of plasma struck Ryo in the side of the face, the force spun him around and he fell. In the doorway was Keith, fully armed and armoured, and beside him, also fully armed and armoured, was Eva. The shout had come from Keith, and the shot had come from Eva. They sprinted towards the cover, firing at the aliens as they went. Maxim turned to Aya to see what they should do, but Aya was already halfway to the alien lines.

Maxim got the rifle off his back, and began lining up shots, taking out the aliens with impunity.

Aya was zipping around, moving incredibly fast, firing dual-wielding shotguns at point-blank range, destroying aliens with every shot, and taking only minor cuts or burns in return, as she dodged rifle shots from point-blank range with seemingly little effort.

Eva and Keith were firing shots hurling grenades (Looks like they'd stocked up), managing to draw the worst of the enemy fire away from Aya by making themselves targets, as they could take the hits on their armour. There was less than a dozen aliens left, and they were mopping them up, it looked like they were going to finish them off.

That was, until Ryo stood back up.

* * *

 **Ryo pulled** himself to his feet, the right side of his face a burned, bleeding mess of meat and exposed bone, the pain must have been immense, the left side of his face twitching with rage. Maxim turned to take a shot, but was rewarded only by the click as his weapon ran out of ammo, and he realized he'd neglected to grab spare cells for it.

Keith and Eva hadn't noticed Ryo get up, and there was no way he'd be able to shout to them over the noise of all the gun fire. He tried to use the coms, but only got static. When he tried to use his Psionics he was greeted with what felt like a mental block, as if some power was holding his powers in his mind. He was forced to watch in horror as Ryo limped up behind them, placed a pistol to the back of Keith's head, and fired.

From such close range, and with the armour already damaged from the hits he'd taken, the armour had little chance to stop the bolt, and the plasma shot ripped straight through the back of the helmet, but didn't quite manage to have enough energy left to burn through the other side, so from the front he looked fine, but his head was probably little more than jelly inside of the helmet, he dropped to his knees.

Eva didn't even get the time to notice this as she took a shot to the back of the neck. This time the shot ripped straight through the armour at the neck, and a gush of red shot out of her neck, a thud accompanying the shot as Keith's body finished falling to the ground, she looked like a fountain of blood for a second before she too collapsed, her body collapsing beside Keith's.

* * *

 **"AYA!" Maxim** screamed, and he noticed that his mouth hadn't opened, all the aliens turned to look at him at the same time Aya did. And he felt that pressure that had blocked him from hitting Ryo a second ago shatter. Immediately his instincts took over, and Maxim looked over at Ryo and screamed, with his mind "TRAITOR!", no finesse to the power this time, just pure mental force, instead of the usual subdued effects of stiffening and collapsing, Ryo's head just exploded, as if someone had shoved a grenade into his mouth. Splattering blood, brain matter and bone in a huge radius. Maxim then looked at the aliens and screamed, again with his mind "BEGONE!" and the air took a purple glow, started swirling, and all the aliens inside of it just collapsed, as if their very life had been ripped from them as they stood.

* * *

 **Maxim stumbled** , and went over to Aya. She looked at him "It appears you are stronger than you thought"

Maxim felt like his own head was about to explode like Ryo's had. He did a count in his head. The only soldiers he didn't have accounted for were Harold and Karl. Assuming the figure that ran through with a sword and a shotgun was Harold, and Maxim felt that was a reasonable assumption, that left only Karl unaccounted for.

"We need to find Karl" Maxim said. Aya nodded, and they began moving towards the door, when another group of aliens suddenly sprinted through either door. There was at least 2 dozen in each side

"It will be a pleasure dying with you" Aya said, as she dropped her shotguns, which were now out of ammo, and took out a pistol in each hand.

"Perhaps. But that won't be today" Maxim said, and destroyed a barrier in his mind he hadn't even known was there, unleashing a flood of psionic energy into himself. He placed a hand on Aya's shoulder. "We're gone" as he said this he unleased the Psionic energy, with 1 simple command 'Home'. The world disappeared, leaving Aya and Maxim in a world of madness and swirling energy. This happened for a split second, and then Maxim saw an area around them that looked just like his old apartment before X-COM, except there was a blackness creeping in at the edges, and Maxim felt himself falling. He struck the floor. Looking through blurry eyes, he saw Aya kneeling over him "I remember the nightmare now" he muttered. He blinked, and his vision was slightly clearer, but it seemed distorted, the light behind Aya almost looked like, wings. He lifted his hand into his field of vision, and it was incredibly pale, almost pure white "The Valkyrie and The Vampire" he muttered before he fell into blackness.

* * *

 **And thus the Gamer's Journey comes to an end. I still need to come up with a name for the 2nd one before I start it. I'll add a 26th part to put the name in so you can find it easily. I'll also put some stuff about the Character's in this one, in case you couldn't pick it up from my hints, and to confirm/deny any thoughts about them you might have. I know I said this was going to come up on Saturday, but I was just too excited to write up this part. I hope you enjoyed this tale. Thank you so much for reading, and I hope to see you when I start the next one. Anyway, Thank you for reading I hope you enjoyed and I hope you continue this story in the sequel.**


	26. Chapter 26: Post Epilogue

**New story is out: _A New Journey._**

* * *

 **Explanations of things that happened in A Gamer's Journey:**

* * *

 **Ryo:** Was growing increasingly untrusting of X-COM, which was further expanded by the Psionic soldiers being used so regularly. And he grew to loath X-COM, and everyone in it. To the point where he discovered a way to contact the aliens, and gave them entrance to X-COM HQ. He believed X-COM to have become too corrupted, and thought the aliens would actually be better rulers than X-COM.

 **Masambe:** After using the device, Masambe saw how the final mission was supposed to end (They would get into the final room. Maxim would kill the Muton's. The others would move in, and over the fight, William would die, and they'd all be badly injured. Masambe would haver to control the ship to get it away, but, because of how injured they were, Keith would end up being left behind, as Maxim used the servos and the grapple to get back, Aya used the archangel suit, and her natural speed, and Harold used the stims, and just sprinted at Olympic sprinter speed all the way back).

 **Aya:** She's just fast (Started saying she just seemed to appear, because of run and gun, and went with it).

* * *

 **The rest of the explanations will spoil some things with the new story. Don't read if you are going to continue:**

* * *

 **Maxim:** Is actually an incredibly powerful Psionic users, but his powers were normally kept contained by a mental barrier, which prevented the energies from overwhelming his mind and killing him, which severely limited his ability to use them. At that final battle, he forced that barrier away, and unleased his full psionic energies. Then teleporting Himself and Aya back to his apartment, before the psionic energies overwhelmed him, forcing his mind to do a last-ditch effort to protect itself, shunting him into a comma, until the psionic energies can be released without further damaging his mind.

 **Karl:** Ran into Ryo as he was going to let the aliens in. Ryo knocked him out, and give him to the aliens. Karl then ended up being the first successful gene-engineered soldier, and became the first ADVENT officer.

 **Harold:** Once he became aware of an attack, he had gotten his equipment, and went to the Command Deck. When he'd gotten there, they'd been attacked, and he'd been cut off from the group that got the upstairs. And, about to be overwhelmed by the aliens, he used all the stimulants his suit had on it all at once (something that the suit normally prevents it from doing), killed the nearest Berserker, ripped the claw-swords from it's hand, and used those to cut himself a path out, and charged out of the facility. He's then spent 20 years wandering around killing aliens, driven by his own rage, and a constant pain that he suffers whenever he isn't fighting something.


End file.
